The following appeared in the December 12 issue of The Vail Mountaineer. I will be starting a weekly column with the paper, beginning early 2010.
What Happened to Rock and Roll?
Trevor Jones for the Vail Mountaineer
Snow Daze is in full swing and once again we can be grateful for a thriving and growing music scene here in the valley. I'm consistently surprised with the quality and diversity of music available in the valley, especially with regard to the live music scene. We even have access to some great local radio. One thing that has always flabbergasted me however, is the lack of quality music on popular radio today. The landscape of pop music has changed dramatically over the course of three generations since Elvis Presley released “Hound Dog” in 1955. For years, rock and roll and its close cousin jazz were America’s primary cultural contribution to the world’s popular music.
Then something happened. In the thirty years since the late 70’s, our popular contribution to the world has gone from the soul searing music of artists like Miles Davis and Led Zeppelin to pre-fab, generically predictable pop singing by artists who use technology, rather than creativity, to bolster their inevitably short careers. Rock music used to be dangerous, sexy, at times downright hedonistic .We’ve all heard about the Zep’s propensity for sharks. Something primal in me still wants to see Robert Plant scream like a banshee and not simply for the impressive range of his voice. When I first heard “No Quarter” for the first time I felt like I was getting a clear glimpse of what hell might be like, without ever having to go there myself, of course. When Plant sung “Walking side by side with death/The devil mocks their every step”, I believed him, which in turn scared the dickens out of my little 15-year gourd!
I turn on the radio today and get a clear glimpse of, well, nothing. Which constantly brings me back to the question of exactly what it was that happened, what it was that produced this puddle of amorphous goop we call pop music on the radio today.
A little history might help us find our answer and the beginning of the end started in a decade many of us would love to remember to forget, the 80’s (although I was no more than a fetus by the time rock had collapsed, absolving me of any blame for this mess). Remember those turquoise and neon-green ski jackets, made out of what seemed to be wind-breaker material? Those garments were undeniably awkward and really serve as an analogy for the entire decade. Things got a little weird for a while and music was no exception. Take a look at the aesthetic principles of artists like David Bowie, Rick James and bands like Poison or Whitesnake and you’ll quickly start to see how music which was once fueled by testosterone and a universal, pagan energy became tame and packaged in a shiny little box. As the once virile funk scene morphed into disco, the deal was sealed. Led Zeppelin had long hair. But they weren’t effeminate, they were just dirty. Kurt Cobain and the rest of the flannel-touting Seattle rocksters tried a valiant thing by leading an early 90’s movement that once again promoted a hard, dirty image that their blond-bombshell predecessors in the 80’s couldn’t see through their eye-liner. The byproduct of a fiery punk scene in the 80’s (admirable in its ideology, but failed in its sustainability), the legacy of Nirvana was quickly consumed and spat back out by the execs at MTV, a channel which promoted the biggest music industry travesty to ever occur in the history of the world: ‘N SYNC and The Backstreet Boys.
As the country enjoyed an unprecedented economic boom in the mid-90’s it was prime time to flip on the radio and enjoy some pop music, so sugary it made Jolly Ranchers look like organic granola. A short, fat, bespectacled business-man named Lou Pearlman saw a wealth of opportunity in producing polished, boyish, auto-tuned bands, never mind the fact they didn’t play any real instruments. To make a long story short, Pearlman masterminded the likes of 'N SYNC and those adorable Backstreet Boys, ruining the musical futures of countless young Americans by exposing them to songs produced by computers, not people (more on auto-tune in later columns). Not to mention Pearlman was convicted of conspiracy and money laundering and was the impetus for books like “The Hit Charade: Lou Pearlman, Boy Bands, and the Biggest Ponzi Scheme in U.S. History." Thank god for Bernie Madoff, eh Lou? Finally, Pearlman is credited with a practice some people have labeled "PervGate" while managing his boy bands. I'll let you Google that one.
Most of us are vaguely aware, if not completely ignorant of people like Pearlman. We go out to see music at the bar and after playing music all over the country I can tell you, the Vail Valley loves its musicians, and we love the valley right back. Thankfully, live music still lives on at Finnigan's, or Main St., or Snow Daze or Hot Summer Nights and radio doesn't really affect our overall listening perception, other than serving as some tolerable filler while we drive to the club. It is stand-up individuals like Lou Pearlman and greedy corporations like Clear Channel who have wrought the filth that we listeners now languish in when we turn on the radio. Clear Channel started as a car dealership, bought an ad agency, and finally realized that by putting more ads than music on the radio, they could construct a monopoly in the radio world. Now, if you like Poison or N’SYNC or disco… great! All analysis aside, everyone should enjoy whatever tunes tickle their pickle. Besides, no single band could ever bring about the cultural and societal changes which affect how entire industries, like radio, are structured.
In addition, there has always been a plethora of amazing music to explore, outside of radio. Pop radio feels good, but make sure to get out there and explore different artists with the vigor of exploring a new ski trail. There’s a mountain of music out there.
Trevor Jones is a writer and musician based out of Denver and Vail. He currently spends time recording and touring with his band, Frogs Gone Fishin'.
Monday, December 21
Monday, November 30
Tech Troubles, Automated Attachements
So I open up my MacBook to write this post and lo', behold!, the mouse button is sticking and the computer itself will not charge. Realizing I had to pack up the nice work area I'd carved out for myself in the coffee shop brought about a sense of rage, deep inside, that I had yet to feel in my lifetime until this very moment. I soon realized this rage was not because I was required to relocate to the public library (where I am currently seated and not a bad place if you never go), but because my access to a technology that I have been taking for granted for the past 2 years was suddenly cut-off, cold turkey. It brought to light just how much we take tech for granted and are attached to our automated arenas in life.
Music and technology have become inextricably joined at the hip now for at least 20 years. I wonder how our newly found human attachment for screens and buttons (read: iPod) affect our listener-ship. The main question, which analysts have been pondering since Mp3's came around, concerns the next step in recorded music media. We all know the historical transition from phonograph to 8-track (the unfortunate butt of many jokes), tape to CD, and ultimately CD to Mp3's. No one doubts that the "album-as-a-whole-experience" was destroyed by the digitization of music on the internet. Singles are popular and most people are unwilling to buy a whole album for just one song (which you used to have to do at your local record store).
But as Frogs Gone Fishin' puts the finishing touches on the tracking stage of our forthcoming album, we are left to wonder exactly how (CD?, iTunes?, our website?, little green Frog-themed flash drives?) to release our music to the masses.
While we ponder our methods, check out a preview of the album here. I gotta go schedule an appointment with an Apple Genius. I'll ask him about the future of music distribution and get back to you...
Friday, November 20
Monday, November 16
Come From the Land of Ice and Snow
The Frogs are driving up the hill to Breckenridge for an opening ski-weekend date with our good friends from New Orleans, Johnny Sketch and The Dirty Notes. The snow is falling and the flakes are huge, covering cases and clothing as we load equipment into the car for the ride to the show. Johnny Sketch and his Dirty Notes plan meticulously while traveling on tour through such treacherous weather; New Orleans is drastically different in terms of the driving skills necessary to navigate a 16-passenger van and attached trailer through the curvy, icy mountain passes on Interstate 70. Winter in Colorado is oftentimes very inhospitable. Growing up here, I’ve often wondered if all of the overturned semi’s and avalanche victims (the most in the country) warrant our obsession with snow. Try posing that question to the determined people occupying the long line of cars adjacent to us, heading eastbound toward Denver after a full day of early-season skiing.
Winter is big business in Colorado. The influx of tourist dollars and international business keeps the Vail Valley on the list of top resort areas in the world every year and keeps state tax coffers satiated. Despite the freezing temperatures, dangerous driving, I-70 closures (just pulled up to our own line of westbound traffic), and the requisite carrying heavy speakers on ice-caked concrete at 2:30am after the show, the Frogs are stoked for winter just like everybody else.
Along with those tourist dollars and an international travel contingent which serves as its own form of viral publicity when visitors return home with a Frogs CD in tow, comes better attended shows and more money flowing through the door for the band.
Thor’s hammer is being raised for the first time tonight as temperatures dip to their lowest level of the year. Back on the eastbound side of the highway, people have put their cars in park and are standing in small groups, talking of the ski day or crappy weather causing the current gridlock. We continue to cruise, a constant mist of white jets back at our windshield from the smaller cars in front of us. The gears of winter are being greased, the season is here.
Winter is big business in Colorado. The influx of tourist dollars and international business keeps the Vail Valley on the list of top resort areas in the world every year and keeps state tax coffers satiated. Despite the freezing temperatures, dangerous driving, I-70 closures (just pulled up to our own line of westbound traffic), and the requisite carrying heavy speakers on ice-caked concrete at 2:30am after the show, the Frogs are stoked for winter just like everybody else.
Along with those tourist dollars and an international travel contingent which serves as its own form of viral publicity when visitors return home with a Frogs CD in tow, comes better attended shows and more money flowing through the door for the band.
Thor’s hammer is being raised for the first time tonight as temperatures dip to their lowest level of the year. Back on the eastbound side of the highway, people have put their cars in park and are standing in small groups, talking of the ski day or crappy weather causing the current gridlock. We continue to cruise, a constant mist of white jets back at our windshield from the smaller cars in front of us. The gears of winter are being greased, the season is here.
Tuesday, November 10
WTF People?!?
After a string of shootings in places far, and way too near to myself and loved ones, I have only one question to ask.
WTF America?
Gun violence is nothing new, even in (typically) quiet, suburban Denver. I can still vividly remember that day, before school lock-downs were commonplace, when our middle school class was told that students had been shot right down the road at Columbine High School.
Gun culture has always been pervasive in our society. The American Revolution, Frontiersman and Settlers, Cowboys and Indians, GI Joe... the list goes on. All of these inherently American institutions involve fire-arms and I don't see the trend going away any time soon. The NRA, military-industrial complex and a strong Washington gun lobby will make sure that gats and 9's are here to stay.
But still, WTF last week??? First, a psychologist goes psycho on those he was sworn to help at a military base in Texas. A laid-off engineer in Florida goes ballistic. A recent college grad gets shot in the chest in the Denver suburbs. A 20-year local in Vail lets loose with a hand-cannon in a bar. Not to mention a hostage situation at the same hour that night, just down the road in Beaver Creek, and a Seattle police shooting which occurred just as officers were filing out of a funeral for the last police officer who was slain.
I've never been a sensationalist and I do think the media over-covers negative news. But I think several of the events mentioned above hit a little close to home last week. Our band, Frogs Gone Fishin', played at the very bar where the Vail shooting occurred, exactly one week beforehand. The dude who was murdered in South Denver lived less than a mile from my house. Oh yeah, he played guitar and was in my high school graduating class, too.
I believe serious thought needs to be applied to gun control by the Obama administration. In the past, his attorney general has said there are "only a few gun related changes we'd like to make". And of course, I'm all for people doing whatever, and I mean whatever, they like to do. But let's think about our society and how all of us are prone to make momentary mistakes which we later regret. Mistakes made with guns, however, are oftentimes irreversible.
WTF America?
Gun violence is nothing new, even in (typically) quiet, suburban Denver. I can still vividly remember that day, before school lock-downs were commonplace, when our middle school class was told that students had been shot right down the road at Columbine High School.
Gun culture has always been pervasive in our society. The American Revolution, Frontiersman and Settlers, Cowboys and Indians, GI Joe... the list goes on. All of these inherently American institutions involve fire-arms and I don't see the trend going away any time soon. The NRA, military-industrial complex and a strong Washington gun lobby will make sure that gats and 9's are here to stay.
But still, WTF last week??? First, a psychologist goes psycho on those he was sworn to help at a military base in Texas. A laid-off engineer in Florida goes ballistic. A recent college grad gets shot in the chest in the Denver suburbs. A 20-year local in Vail lets loose with a hand-cannon in a bar. Not to mention a hostage situation at the same hour that night, just down the road in Beaver Creek, and a Seattle police shooting which occurred just as officers were filing out of a funeral for the last police officer who was slain.
I've never been a sensationalist and I do think the media over-covers negative news. But I think several of the events mentioned above hit a little close to home last week. Our band, Frogs Gone Fishin', played at the very bar where the Vail shooting occurred, exactly one week beforehand. The dude who was murdered in South Denver lived less than a mile from my house. Oh yeah, he played guitar and was in my high school graduating class, too.
I believe serious thought needs to be applied to gun control by the Obama administration. In the past, his attorney general has said there are "only a few gun related changes we'd like to make". And of course, I'm all for people doing whatever, and I mean whatever, they like to do. But let's think about our society and how all of us are prone to make momentary mistakes which we later regret. Mistakes made with guns, however, are oftentimes irreversible.
Friday, November 6
Tennessee Travels
I'm going to visit my girlfriend, Mackenzie, next month. We don't get to see each other much, which is a shame considering that I think she is the most beautiful girl in the world. We get to spend, at most, five or six days out of every couple months together. Pretty tough. Beyond being beautiful, she's also really cool and understanding, understanding enough to let me play a show while in Tennessee during one of our precious few nights together. Not only does she understand, she's excited for the gig. I might even make her sing (oh yeah... she sings, paints, writes, and plays guitar...and piano).
She didn't even think I'd write this post and makes fun of me for having a blog and Twitter account. But, even if I wanted it to be, nothing can be compartmentalized these days. For better or for worse, these are not the old days of rock and roll. Take the 80's, for example. In the height of debauchery and misogyny in rock, Gene Simmons of KISS could wake up at his house, eat his favorite cereal for breakfast and lead a normal life, relatively speaking. At night, Gene would paint himself white and black and adopt a personae which included a bleeding tongue, completely removed from who he was while eating Wheaties that same morning.
There are still performers who enjoy the luxury of being someone completely different on-stage and in the public eye. The internet makes things too transparent for this division between public and private to stay firmly planted, however. Few bands manage to shield their personal lives effectively enough to achieve that sort of mystery. TOOL is one that comes to mind. Few pictures of the band's faces exist online. My band isn't like that, nor would I ever want it to be.
The point is that in 2009, nobody can, or should restrict themselves to one domain anymore in terms of what they choose to do, or how they market it. The internet makes this process more invasive, and less comfortable. Maybe Mackenzie is even blushing right now (she has sexy, porcelain skin that doesn't hide these things very well). I know she will do well as an artist because she doesn't restrict herself to JUST painting, or JUST writing. Next comes the marketing part for her.
Now I just need to convince her to get a blog, maybe a Twitter account...
Frogs Gone Fishin' are in Evergroove Studio this week, recording guitars for the new album. FgF is also playing in Avon, CO @ Finnigan's Wake tomorrow night. Film-maker Travis Milloy will be following myself and Andrew Portwood as we record all day, play all night.
She didn't even think I'd write this post and makes fun of me for having a blog and Twitter account. But, even if I wanted it to be, nothing can be compartmentalized these days. For better or for worse, these are not the old days of rock and roll. Take the 80's, for example. In the height of debauchery and misogyny in rock, Gene Simmons of KISS could wake up at his house, eat his favorite cereal for breakfast and lead a normal life, relatively speaking. At night, Gene would paint himself white and black and adopt a personae which included a bleeding tongue, completely removed from who he was while eating Wheaties that same morning.
There are still performers who enjoy the luxury of being someone completely different on-stage and in the public eye. The internet makes things too transparent for this division between public and private to stay firmly planted, however. Few bands manage to shield their personal lives effectively enough to achieve that sort of mystery. TOOL is one that comes to mind. Few pictures of the band's faces exist online. My band isn't like that, nor would I ever want it to be.
The point is that in 2009, nobody can, or should restrict themselves to one domain anymore in terms of what they choose to do, or how they market it. The internet makes this process more invasive, and less comfortable. Maybe Mackenzie is even blushing right now (she has sexy, porcelain skin that doesn't hide these things very well). I know she will do well as an artist because she doesn't restrict herself to JUST painting, or JUST writing. Next comes the marketing part for her.
Now I just need to convince her to get a blog, maybe a Twitter account...
Frogs Gone Fishin' are in Evergroove Studio this week, recording guitars for the new album. FgF is also playing in Avon, CO @ Finnigan's Wake tomorrow night. Film-maker Travis Milloy will be following myself and Andrew Portwood as we record all day, play all night.
Tuesday, November 3
On The Road Again
Well not really... the proverbial blogging road, maybe. The point is I now, thankfully, have enough time to do what I really love to do: write, write music, and in general have the time to do what all artists need to do to succeed, namely taking the time to observe the world and enjoy diverse experiences, experiences which are interpreted again later, in the form of relevant art output.
If anything, that is what the last year since graduating college has taught me. The more I try different jobs, whether running an independent promotion company, competing in the ferocious music industry jungle or working with special-needs children at an elementary school, the more I realize that I just want to be an artist, a musician who spends the majority of his time on music, not hoping that one day my part-time focus, music, will somehow overtake other jobs with more money and security. IF YOU WANT MUSIC TO BE YOUR FULL-TIME JOB, IT HAS TO BE YOUR FULL TIME JOB.
Creating, organizing, running, and executing a promotion company and its associated festival, Mountainside Mardi Gras at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, was one of the most intense experiences of my life. The pressure, risk/reward and fickle nature of the music industry makes it one of the most unpredictable industries in the world. Mountainside Mardi Gras took place on Aug. 8th, 2009 and the outcome of all our hard work and vision can be seen in multiple lights. On one had, 1,500 people showed up that day. That's a lot of people. But not nearly enough for us to have broken even and kept For/Sure Productions afloat.
Sometimes every fiber in my body tells me to find capital, refinance the company, have another go. I'm sure it'll happen at some point in the future, but I am just now, four months after the fact, understanding the impact and implications of what we did that day at Red Rocks. For me personally, the concert had many benefits which ultimately outweighed the ocean-sized financial bath FSP endured in August. We brought enough artists from NOLA to CO at one time to make residents of New Orleans wonder if all the musicians in town had just packed up and left for good. I had the amazing opportunity of playing alongside the world-renowned Dirty Dozen Brass Band and my good friends CR Gruver (Polytoxic, Outformation) and DJ Logic, spinning on the other side of the stage. If in the past you told me I would play music onstage at Red Rocks at the age of 23, I might have slapped you silly, right across your mouth.
And so there I was, a young entrepreneur with respect and love from the musical communities in Denver and New Orleans and that much richer... in contacts and networking, certainly not in money. I was disgruntled with the outcome of the festival, although the vast majority of festivals around the world lose money in their first year. Shortly after, Frogs Gone Fishin's first record deal with Oh/Ya Records dissolved, before we could secure financing for a second album.
Losing the deal with Oh/Ya seemed to be a fatal blow to the band. Without money to make a new record, everything started to seem redundant because no new music, fresh material, could be presented to our fans. Frogs canceled tour to the Northwest, an area I was particularly excited about absorbing. I moved deep into the mountains, 2.5 hours from Denver to a tiny town called Gypsum and actually employed my college degree in a productive way by getting a job teaching Special Ed at an elementary school. I wanted to get away from Denver, a city which we are just now starting to break, as Frogs. I moved in with a Buddhist songwriter and his family and worked hard from 7 in the morning t0 3pm, every day. This became exhausting. After Frogs would finish a show at 2am in Denver or Boulder, I would proceed to drive, tired, back up the mountain for two and a half hours, before getting up mere hours later to go work with kids.
It goes without saying that working with cognitive-needs children is challenging. I'm going to write a separate post about this altogether because the amount you pick-up and learn as their advocate is impressive and wondrous, while conflicting factors outside of the school can make the job impossible, to say the least.
Just when I was positive I was going to perish on the roadside from exhaustion by driving the 200 miles between Gypsum and Denver in the middle of the night, every other night or so, a miracle happened for Frogs Gone Fishin'. Our friend and adept producer at Evergroove Studio, Brad Smalling announced that he and an attorney wished to start a record label and sign FGF as their only flagship act. This divine act set into motion the wheels of a new album and a tour in the Spring, reversing the gloom that had settled in early Fall.
Another great relationship has developed between Frogs and movie maker Travis Milloy, whose recent picture, Pandorum, hit theatres a couple weeks ago. He will be shooting a music video for Frogs, starting this weekend on Saturday at Finnigan's Wake in Avon, CO. Incidentally our largest fan base, by far, is in the High Rockies, Vail and the surrounding area (Avon, Edwards, Eagle). Given the opportunity for great recreation in a beautiful landscape setting, we're not complaining. Ski season is upon us, after all.
Frogs couldn't be more excited to release a follow-up to Tell Me True in the first part of the new year and get on the road again to 14 states in two months. Tour is a part of my life which I cannot deny; it calls me from down South to hop in the TOURMOBILE and get after it.
I'm working on a number of other projects, the most exciting of which is the opportunity to compose the soundtrack to a monster movie being filmed in CO next year.
Remember to wear sunscreen and stay hydrated people, we'll see you out there on the road...
If anything, that is what the last year since graduating college has taught me. The more I try different jobs, whether running an independent promotion company, competing in the ferocious music industry jungle or working with special-needs children at an elementary school, the more I realize that I just want to be an artist, a musician who spends the majority of his time on music, not hoping that one day my part-time focus, music, will somehow overtake other jobs with more money and security. IF YOU WANT MUSIC TO BE YOUR FULL-TIME JOB, IT HAS TO BE YOUR FULL TIME JOB.
Creating, organizing, running, and executing a promotion company and its associated festival, Mountainside Mardi Gras at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, was one of the most intense experiences of my life. The pressure, risk/reward and fickle nature of the music industry makes it one of the most unpredictable industries in the world. Mountainside Mardi Gras took place on Aug. 8th, 2009 and the outcome of all our hard work and vision can be seen in multiple lights. On one had, 1,500 people showed up that day. That's a lot of people. But not nearly enough for us to have broken even and kept For/Sure Productions afloat.
Sometimes every fiber in my body tells me to find capital, refinance the company, have another go. I'm sure it'll happen at some point in the future, but I am just now, four months after the fact, understanding the impact and implications of what we did that day at Red Rocks. For me personally, the concert had many benefits which ultimately outweighed the ocean-sized financial bath FSP endured in August. We brought enough artists from NOLA to CO at one time to make residents of New Orleans wonder if all the musicians in town had just packed up and left for good. I had the amazing opportunity of playing alongside the world-renowned Dirty Dozen Brass Band and my good friends CR Gruver (Polytoxic, Outformation) and DJ Logic, spinning on the other side of the stage. If in the past you told me I would play music onstage at Red Rocks at the age of 23, I might have slapped you silly, right across your mouth.
And so there I was, a young entrepreneur with respect and love from the musical communities in Denver and New Orleans and that much richer... in contacts and networking, certainly not in money. I was disgruntled with the outcome of the festival, although the vast majority of festivals around the world lose money in their first year. Shortly after, Frogs Gone Fishin's first record deal with Oh/Ya Records dissolved, before we could secure financing for a second album.
Losing the deal with Oh/Ya seemed to be a fatal blow to the band. Without money to make a new record, everything started to seem redundant because no new music, fresh material, could be presented to our fans. Frogs canceled tour to the Northwest, an area I was particularly excited about absorbing. I moved deep into the mountains, 2.5 hours from Denver to a tiny town called Gypsum and actually employed my college degree in a productive way by getting a job teaching Special Ed at an elementary school. I wanted to get away from Denver, a city which we are just now starting to break, as Frogs. I moved in with a Buddhist songwriter and his family and worked hard from 7 in the morning t0 3pm, every day. This became exhausting. After Frogs would finish a show at 2am in Denver or Boulder, I would proceed to drive, tired, back up the mountain for two and a half hours, before getting up mere hours later to go work with kids.
It goes without saying that working with cognitive-needs children is challenging. I'm going to write a separate post about this altogether because the amount you pick-up and learn as their advocate is impressive and wondrous, while conflicting factors outside of the school can make the job impossible, to say the least.
Just when I was positive I was going to perish on the roadside from exhaustion by driving the 200 miles between Gypsum and Denver in the middle of the night, every other night or so, a miracle happened for Frogs Gone Fishin'. Our friend and adept producer at Evergroove Studio, Brad Smalling announced that he and an attorney wished to start a record label and sign FGF as their only flagship act. This divine act set into motion the wheels of a new album and a tour in the Spring, reversing the gloom that had settled in early Fall.
Another great relationship has developed between Frogs and movie maker Travis Milloy, whose recent picture, Pandorum, hit theatres a couple weeks ago. He will be shooting a music video for Frogs, starting this weekend on Saturday at Finnigan's Wake in Avon, CO. Incidentally our largest fan base, by far, is in the High Rockies, Vail and the surrounding area (Avon, Edwards, Eagle). Given the opportunity for great recreation in a beautiful landscape setting, we're not complaining. Ski season is upon us, after all.
Frogs couldn't be more excited to release a follow-up to Tell Me True in the first part of the new year and get on the road again to 14 states in two months. Tour is a part of my life which I cannot deny; it calls me from down South to hop in the TOURMOBILE and get after it.
I'm working on a number of other projects, the most exciting of which is the opportunity to compose the soundtrack to a monster movie being filmed in CO next year.
Remember to wear sunscreen and stay hydrated people, we'll see you out there on the road...
Tuesday, July 21
Fall Plans
So as you've probably noticed, I've been blogging from a thingy called ping.fm. Ping.fm updates multiple websites for you at once and is useful for sites which you'd prefer not visit everyday ie; MySpace for me.
This Ping.fm business is a cowardly way out of blogging however, and I'm going to stop it. Starting now. I became overwhelmed with writing in June when I took on the NewOrleans.com job, and lost focus.
But I won't start blogging regularly, in-depth again, just yet.
I want to know what you want to hear about. Tell me what you're interested in, because I could go on for days about Frogs Gone Fishin' or Mountainside Mardi Gras or life on the road/in the studio or the state of the music industry.... but I'd like to hear your opinions by commenting on this post or sending me an email at trevorjonesmusic@gmail.com .
Tell me what to write about!!! Tell me what the average person wants to know about a self-employed promoter, an independent musician, who still has somehow found time to muse about ultimate pointlessness on the internet!?!?! Damn this blogosphere and its infinite potential!! Guide me people, help a brother out....
This Ping.fm business is a cowardly way out of blogging however, and I'm going to stop it. Starting now. I became overwhelmed with writing in June when I took on the NewOrleans.com job, and lost focus.
But I won't start blogging regularly, in-depth again, just yet.
I want to know what you want to hear about. Tell me what you're interested in, because I could go on for days about Frogs Gone Fishin' or Mountainside Mardi Gras or life on the road/in the studio or the state of the music industry.... but I'd like to hear your opinions by commenting on this post or sending me an email at trevorjonesmusic@gmail.com .
Tell me what to write about!!! Tell me what the average person wants to know about a self-employed promoter, an independent musician, who still has somehow found time to muse about ultimate pointlessness on the internet!?!?! Damn this blogosphere and its infinite potential!! Guide me people, help a brother out....
Sunday, July 19
3 wks from Mountainside Mardi Gras! Mile High was so-so... check out Frogs Gone Fishin' @ http://ping.fm/6y7lW Fri-Sun this wkend!
Monday, July 13
Friday, July 10
Thursday, July 2
Monday, June 29
Sunday, June 28
Friday, June 26
Thursday, June 25
Tuesday, June 23
Sunday, June 21
Friday, June 19
Wednesday, June 17
All you need: a keyboard, pre-amp and recording program. I actually prefer Garage Band for demos. http://ping.fm/ebcTA
Wednesday, May 6
New Job
I'll be taking a short break from blogging this month to write the "On The One" column about music for neworleans.com.
I have the pleasure of sitting-in for my good friend and tremendous musician, Kevin O'Day.
I know you're scared. "Where will I find out about life on the road, live music, the state of the industry and Frogs Gone Fishin'/Mountainside Mardi Gras, all without TrevorJonesMusic???".
Hey. Don't worry. I'll be back.
In the meantime, jump over to NEWORLEANS.COM and check out my articles, it should be a good way to stay focused on writing for the month of May.
thanks for reading!!!
-Trevor
I have the pleasure of sitting-in for my good friend and tremendous musician, Kevin O'Day.
I know you're scared. "Where will I find out about life on the road, live music, the state of the industry and Frogs Gone Fishin'/Mountainside Mardi Gras, all without TrevorJonesMusic???".
Hey. Don't worry. I'll be back.
In the meantime, jump over to NEWORLEANS.COM and check out my articles, it should be a good way to stay focused on writing for the month of May.
thanks for reading!!!
-Trevor
Thursday, April 30
Jazz Fest in New Orleans
The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is carrying out its 40th year of existence with two full weekends of every type of music imaginable. Throngs of music lovers from all over the world descend on the racetrack fairgrounds in New Orleans, the type of mass economic spending (think Mardi Gras) the city needs in order to continue to rebuild itself.
I don't even go to the fairgrounds to check it out.
Along with throngs of music lovers come throngs of world-class musicians; some make Jazz Fest their one and only yearly migration to New Orleans for a week of sitting-in and scene-making.
The scene doesn't happen during daylight hours at the Fest. The night time is the right time in general down here, an amplified early morning crowd gathers in multiple locations, Uptown and Downtown.
I would never present Jazz Fest as something other than the most incredible union of tradition and talent, gastronomy and every musical taxonomy. Even on rainy days at the fairgrounds, muddy waves lapping at your feet, the tangible sense of life-celebration is everywhere.
But for whatever reason... actually I can think of a couple... the night time is the right time. Searing sweaty jam sessions burn, all over the city, until dawn. Close your eyes and you're in Milton's Playhouse, circa 1941. Before bars closed at 2am, before sitting-in was an antiquated quest, when the night time was the right time, as it is now, the time for music, mojo, juju or whatever you call the deep bayou Delta energy.
I don't even go to the fairgrounds to check it out.
Along with throngs of music lovers come throngs of world-class musicians; some make Jazz Fest their one and only yearly migration to New Orleans for a week of sitting-in and scene-making.
The scene doesn't happen during daylight hours at the Fest. The night time is the right time in general down here, an amplified early morning crowd gathers in multiple locations, Uptown and Downtown.
I would never present Jazz Fest as something other than the most incredible union of tradition and talent, gastronomy and every musical taxonomy. Even on rainy days at the fairgrounds, muddy waves lapping at your feet, the tangible sense of life-celebration is everywhere.
But for whatever reason... actually I can think of a couple... the night time is the right time. Searing sweaty jam sessions burn, all over the city, until dawn. Close your eyes and you're in Milton's Playhouse, circa 1941. Before bars closed at 2am, before sitting-in was an antiquated quest, when the night time was the right time, as it is now, the time for music, mojo, juju or whatever you call the deep bayou Delta energy.
In New Orleans
You sweat when you sleep, you sweat when you dance.
So put on those dancin' pants and
Keep your head.
It must be said.
New Orleans can sleep when it's dead.
-Trevor Jones 4/30/09
You sweat when you sleep, you sweat when you dance.
So put on those dancin' pants and
Keep your head.
It must be said.
New Orleans can sleep when it's dead.
-Trevor Jones 4/30/09
Tuesday, April 21
NewOrleans.com Article
Kevin O'Day and his awesome team over at neworleans.com were nice enough to publish an article I wrote called "Why New Orleans will beat the record industry". Check it out!
Sunday, April 12
Rolling Stone Cover
Last week, I wrote about the state of the music industry. After writing the post, I saw a magazine cover which crystallized things for me.
Nothing needs to be said about Rolling Stone and their immense influence on young music lovers. We can discover much about the music industry, just by looking at the cover of last week's issue.
First, notice that only 50% of the feature articles listed on the cover are about music.
Taylor Swift was to be expected, she's had the top selling album on the pop charts (which is selling dismally by record industry standards).
The other two bands are Rolling Stone cover standards, however. Green Day and U2 have been on the cover, in photos and print, ad nauseum for as long as I can remember. They also represent a dying breed of artists who can tour heavily and still play their own instruments and write their own songs. Seeing them together with no other musical mention besides Taylor Swift on the cover of Rolling Stone is an indication of the smaller and smaller range of traditionally "marketable" acts the record industry is producting.
The text and articles on the cover of RS can be interpreted and analyzed, but it is the picture of Taylor Swift and her guitar which jumps out the most. The guitar is beautiful but is missing a key musical element, a string. The contrast between the perfectly dolled-up Swift, and her guitar, is striking.
I'm well aware this is probably not even Swift's guitar. Maybe it is and she missed the implication of being the world's most famous new musician with an unplayable guitar.
The point is that Rolling Stone and their team have effectively demonstrated the dynamics of an industry, more focused on style than substance, in one photograph.
Monday, April 6
The Analyst
There is always talk in any sector about the "state of the industry". Over the next weeks I'll be posting about this big-bad thing we call the "music industry". I'll admit I've gotten rather jaded in posting about this particular business sometimes. I'll try to keep the industry-bashing down. Just the facts here, folks.
Maybe jaded isn't the right word. I get frustrated with the music industry, then become vague in my descriptions of exactly what's happening, then turn into a sarcastic, cherry-picking underpants gnome. Instead, I want to write some objective posts about what many "analysts" say is a bright future for those of us who can play 100+ live shows a year and tour their cajones off. (A cajon is a Peruvian drum, people. This is a family friendly blog. Get your minds out of the gutter).
This 100 show a year thing doesn't make a lot of sense to people. Don't musicians sell albums to make money? How can spending half your year in a van, traveling to small towns with other sweaty dudes (or ladies), be a profitable venture?
Well, it is. Especially now that gas isn't $4/ gallon. That is the state of the industry: fresh touring acts.
The Rolling Stones are getting pretty old, just like many high-grossing acts who the industry has relied on for years. On the same token, no one will even know who or what The Jonas Brothers or Taylor Swift are in five years. Quite the conundrum for the recording and promoting industries, no?
The process of how we got to this point is interesting to me, if I can overcome the greed and general ignorance of the music itself that has led the record and promoting industries down the tubes like Drain-O.
We'll talk about things like streaming music, iTunes, Apple, major record labels, indie record labels, Kurt Cobain, Radiohead, Phish, 8-track tapes and a music industry which now makes every song (whether Cobain or my 5-year old cousin wrote it) available for the same price as a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger at Wendy's.
I can't wait.
Maybe jaded isn't the right word. I get frustrated with the music industry, then become vague in my descriptions of exactly what's happening, then turn into a sarcastic, cherry-picking underpants gnome. Instead, I want to write some objective posts about what many "analysts" say is a bright future for those of us who can play 100+ live shows a year and tour their cajones off. (A cajon is a Peruvian drum, people. This is a family friendly blog. Get your minds out of the gutter).
This 100 show a year thing doesn't make a lot of sense to people. Don't musicians sell albums to make money? How can spending half your year in a van, traveling to small towns with other sweaty dudes (or ladies), be a profitable venture?
Well, it is. Especially now that gas isn't $4/ gallon. That is the state of the industry: fresh touring acts.
The Rolling Stones are getting pretty old, just like many high-grossing acts who the industry has relied on for years. On the same token, no one will even know who or what The Jonas Brothers or Taylor Swift are in five years. Quite the conundrum for the recording and promoting industries, no?
The process of how we got to this point is interesting to me, if I can overcome the greed and general ignorance of the music itself that has led the record and promoting industries down the tubes like Drain-O.
We'll talk about things like streaming music, iTunes, Apple, major record labels, indie record labels, Kurt Cobain, Radiohead, Phish, 8-track tapes and a music industry which now makes every song (whether Cobain or my 5-year old cousin wrote it) available for the same price as a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger at Wendy's.
I can't wait.
Friday, March 27
NOLA Press, New Projects
World-class drummer and music editor for NewOrleans.com, Kevin O'Day, graced us with his presence in our living room the other day to talk about our move to NOLA and future plans. Check out the awesome article here.
Otherwise, I've started a side-project called the TJ Gospel Project to play some gospel, blues and soul tunes. The band will include my pedal-steel playing friend Ed Williams, gospel drummer Mike Davis, and Frogs bassist Steve Rogers. Our debut gig will be APRIL 16th at Carrollton Station in New Orleans so please come out and support this new, soulful project!
Frogs Gone Fishin' is busier than I can describe with language right now, but please check for our New Orleans, Tennessee and late-nite JAZZFEST (!) dates.
Here's a picture of me having a blast, or trying to catch a raindrop in my mouth, while sitting in with Papa Grows Funk the other night:
Otherwise, I've started a side-project called the TJ Gospel Project to play some gospel, blues and soul tunes. The band will include my pedal-steel playing friend Ed Williams, gospel drummer Mike Davis, and Frogs bassist Steve Rogers. Our debut gig will be APRIL 16th at Carrollton Station in New Orleans so please come out and support this new, soulful project!
Frogs Gone Fishin' is busier than I can describe with language right now, but please check for our New Orleans, Tennessee and late-nite JAZZFEST (!) dates.
Here's a picture of me having a blast, or trying to catch a raindrop in my mouth, while sitting in with Papa Grows Funk the other night:
Thursday, March 19
Things That Don't Make Sense
Many things in our world don't make a ton of logical sense when we really think about them. After all, we drive on parkways and park on driveways everyday.
So here is my list of things that don't make sense this week:
1) The String Cheese Incident "reuniting" after deciding to go their separate ways less than two years ago. In my mind, this is the same thing Phish did: claiming they would never play together again, only to reunite a few years later because of boredom or economic necessity. Jam bands need to realize that it is OK to take a few months/years off touring without these epic dissolution and reunion tours.
2) In a somewhat related story, ticketing monopoly Ticketmaster has royally screwed up. It all started at around 7:30 last night. We were all hanging out on the back porch, eating crawfish and BBQ, when someone received a text message about Phish tickets for Red Rocks Amphitheatre in July going on-sale early. Even though early on in the ensuing chaos for an available computer someone commented that this was probably a Ticketmaster Phuck-Up, most of my Phriends were able to secure tickets. Or so they thought. Early this morning I read an article on Rolling Stone about the Ticketmaster Phish Gaffe. Turns out the sales were a Ticketmaster mistake and refunds and apology letters should be on the way any day now. I have so many musical, social and business attachments to Phish and Red Rocks at this point that I can't objectively comment on their involvement with this mess-up. But one thing I can say: Ticketmaster is an effective monopoly in the ticketing industry and stringent legislation about consumer protection should accompany the new Ticketmaster-LiveNation merger, if it's allowed to happen at all. When something like this happens, miffed consumers have nowhere else to turn for ticketing options. That's what I call a monopoly.
3) The Pope flying to Africa and condemning condom use. This has to be the most illogical news story I've heard in months, advocating against contraception in an area with 20+ million AIDS sufferers. Chalk one up for antiquated policies used by organized religion!
4) Records Companies. Taylor Swift can't sell albums, U2 can't sell albums... what does a record company do again?
Is this post a random rant about things that bother me on a very basic level? Yes. But I've included a link below about Science from the Wikipedia page that can help.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science
Wikipedia defines science as "any systematic knowledge or practice".
If Ticketmaster was just subject to the systematic practice of free market enterprise, Phish and String Cheese subject to systematic knowledge about their loyal and enduring fan-bases, record companies subject to systematically adapting to the Internet and file-sharing... heck, if The Pope even believed in science at all, we could all learn to make the world more efficient, profitable and compassionate for everyone.
So here is my list of things that don't make sense this week:
1) The String Cheese Incident "reuniting" after deciding to go their separate ways less than two years ago. In my mind, this is the same thing Phish did: claiming they would never play together again, only to reunite a few years later because of boredom or economic necessity. Jam bands need to realize that it is OK to take a few months/years off touring without these epic dissolution and reunion tours.
2) In a somewhat related story, ticketing monopoly Ticketmaster has royally screwed up. It all started at around 7:30 last night. We were all hanging out on the back porch, eating crawfish and BBQ, when someone received a text message about Phish tickets for Red Rocks Amphitheatre in July going on-sale early. Even though early on in the ensuing chaos for an available computer someone commented that this was probably a Ticketmaster Phuck-Up, most of my Phriends were able to secure tickets. Or so they thought. Early this morning I read an article on Rolling Stone about the Ticketmaster Phish Gaffe. Turns out the sales were a Ticketmaster mistake and refunds and apology letters should be on the way any day now. I have so many musical, social and business attachments to Phish and Red Rocks at this point that I can't objectively comment on their involvement with this mess-up. But one thing I can say: Ticketmaster is an effective monopoly in the ticketing industry and stringent legislation about consumer protection should accompany the new Ticketmaster-LiveNation merger, if it's allowed to happen at all. When something like this happens, miffed consumers have nowhere else to turn for ticketing options. That's what I call a monopoly.
3) The Pope flying to Africa and condemning condom use. This has to be the most illogical news story I've heard in months, advocating against contraception in an area with 20+ million AIDS sufferers. Chalk one up for antiquated policies used by organized religion!
4) Records Companies. Taylor Swift can't sell albums, U2 can't sell albums... what does a record company do again?
Is this post a random rant about things that bother me on a very basic level? Yes. But I've included a link below about Science from the Wikipedia page that can help.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science
Wikipedia defines science as "any systematic knowledge or practice".
If Ticketmaster was just subject to the systematic practice of free market enterprise, Phish and String Cheese subject to systematic knowledge about their loyal and enduring fan-bases, record companies subject to systematically adapting to the Internet and file-sharing... heck, if The Pope even believed in science at all, we could all learn to make the world more efficient, profitable and compassionate for everyone.
Saturday, March 14
New Links
Two links to share this weekend:
- http://www.livefrogs.blogspot.com -- a blog where we can hopefully figure out a way to get live and home-recorded projects available online for our listeners. Right now it has tracks from the album and some cool videos until we post some live shows (that's when we really rip).
- http://www.last.fm/music/Frogs+Gone+Fishin%27 -- a competitor of my favorite, pandora.com, where you can listen to streaming radio based around your favorite artists. Last.fm keeps telling me I haven't listened to enough music to upload a picture for Frogs Gone Fishin, they think I'm a spammer, go figure. So if anyone is an avid last.fm fan, upload a Frogs profile picture please please please!!
Websites like last.fm, coupled with the fact that bands like Phish can now release live recordings immediately after they are recorded (as they did last weekend) signal the death of the recording industry as we know it. Hallelujah! More about that next post.
- http://www.livefrogs.blogspot.com -- a blog where we can hopefully figure out a way to get live and home-recorded projects available online for our listeners. Right now it has tracks from the album and some cool videos until we post some live shows (that's when we really rip).
- http://www.last.fm/music/Frogs+Gone+Fishin%27 -- a competitor of my favorite, pandora.com, where you can listen to streaming radio based around your favorite artists. Last.fm keeps telling me I haven't listened to enough music to upload a picture for Frogs Gone Fishin, they think I'm a spammer, go figure. So if anyone is an avid last.fm fan, upload a Frogs profile picture please please please!!
Websites like last.fm, coupled with the fact that bands like Phish can now release live recordings immediately after they are recorded (as they did last weekend) signal the death of the recording industry as we know it. Hallelujah! More about that next post.
Friday, March 6
NOLA Progress
It seems the Frogs are settling down into the deep rhythm of New Orleans life and enjoying all the city has to offer. We've been eating good food and seeing even better music almost every night. If one knows where to go Uptown on the right night, the networking possibilities are varied and highly beneficial to artists of all breeds. It seems all of New Orleans found out about Mountainside Mardi Gras at once this week and my voice-mail has been inundated with calls from artists, managers and other potential helpers and hangers-on.
Frogs Gone Fishin' has managed to improve our gig count and will be playing at Tulane University and Banks Street Bar among other places. Our hip-hop counterparts Soul Capital are opening for Lupe Fiasco next week and have tentatively asked us to be their backing band.
It's clear progress is being made on both the playing and promoting side of things which in turn, opens up around five minutes in my schedule for pondering the deeper issues of this new scene which we are now immersed in. A quick glance around Uptown and things seem to bustle and flow along in the crescent city. A broader look, and New Orleans still has a long road to travel.
Part of the issue with understanding the so-called "rebirth" of New Orleans comes with the perception that immediately before Katrina, New Orleans was a shiny beacon of a city. New Orleans had problems including one of the highest murder rates in the nation in the late- 90's. No one has ever said the crumbling roads and deteriorating houses weren't a part of everyday NOLA life before Katrina.
Katrina did destroy some specific parts of the city and the lower 9th ward is still largely a wasteland. My point is that New Orleans exists in a natural state of decay and to cite Katrina as a sole contributor of destruction that now requires a "rebirth" is to deny the city's overall history and current-day vibe. And as the wetlands encroach and the city sinks even further below sea level, the population's spirit here is strong, not in "rebirth", but strong as it has been through all the other problems New Orleans has endured. The struggle of the black man here is as hard as in any large American city and two recent stories illustrate my point.
Last week a black man was gang-beaten by police after he "attempted" to fire a 9mm handgun in their direction and the gun "wouldn't fire". I don't know if you've ever fired a handgun, I have. I recommend doing so, safely at a firing range, before forming an opinion about policy on the subject. Handguns on the streets of America are some of the most reliable machines of the planet, according to a police officer I know. Defensereview.com says of the standard Glock: "I must have fired over 1,000 rounds through it without any kind of malfunction. It fed every kind of bullet, every time". The magistrate posted a $300,000 bail for the man.
Secondly, there is a benefit concert tonight for a famous sousaphone player who started an even more famous brass band in 1977(!), a band that still plays today. Over the past year he's had heart problems and there have been various benefit concerts in his name. Tonight's concert is not for that reason, not because he has passed on, but because police apparently pulled him off-stage during a gig last week for not paying child support.
I would never say pointing a gun at police or neglecting child support is OK. But, the way police and the government in general treat the population here is oftentimes surprising.
Although NOLA might be in a state of decay, this is not a bad trajectory by any means. All things are in a state of decay. Decay means "to break down". When musicians say "break it down" the band cuts to bass and drums. In this there is rebirth, stripping off the busy layers to a more simple way of doing things.
Until New Orleans and Louisiana can strip off the old way of doing things, there will be no rebirth. The Obama administration also needs to pay special attention to the Gulf Coast, a region which was ignored by fact or de facto, during the Bush years. We started bombing Iraq the year before I went to college in New Orleans and three years before I was to evacuate New Orleans for Katrina. I still get very angry and emotional when I see bumper stickers that say "Make Levees, Not War". This is where I insert a cliche comment about how valuable the Gulf Coast is to our nation's culture and resources. Beyond the fact that you probably went to elementary school and/or have heard of this little thing, the "Louisiana Purchase", I won't tell you about New Orleans because I want you to come here and find out for yourself.
The musicians here (I'm one of them now) depend on tourism to pad the city's devoted music fanship attending the world-class clubs, Uptown and Downtown. I just realized by no premeditation that my last post ended with a solicitation for visitors to New Orleans. It's by no accident I end up talking about how everyone should come visit. Plus, we have a sweet futon you can stay on.
Frogs Gone Fishin' has managed to improve our gig count and will be playing at Tulane University and Banks Street Bar among other places. Our hip-hop counterparts Soul Capital are opening for Lupe Fiasco next week and have tentatively asked us to be their backing band.
It's clear progress is being made on both the playing and promoting side of things which in turn, opens up around five minutes in my schedule for pondering the deeper issues of this new scene which we are now immersed in. A quick glance around Uptown and things seem to bustle and flow along in the crescent city. A broader look, and New Orleans still has a long road to travel.
Part of the issue with understanding the so-called "rebirth" of New Orleans comes with the perception that immediately before Katrina, New Orleans was a shiny beacon of a city. New Orleans had problems including one of the highest murder rates in the nation in the late- 90's. No one has ever said the crumbling roads and deteriorating houses weren't a part of everyday NOLA life before Katrina.
Katrina did destroy some specific parts of the city and the lower 9th ward is still largely a wasteland. My point is that New Orleans exists in a natural state of decay and to cite Katrina as a sole contributor of destruction that now requires a "rebirth" is to deny the city's overall history and current-day vibe. And as the wetlands encroach and the city sinks even further below sea level, the population's spirit here is strong, not in "rebirth", but strong as it has been through all the other problems New Orleans has endured. The struggle of the black man here is as hard as in any large American city and two recent stories illustrate my point.
Last week a black man was gang-beaten by police after he "attempted" to fire a 9mm handgun in their direction and the gun "wouldn't fire". I don't know if you've ever fired a handgun, I have. I recommend doing so, safely at a firing range, before forming an opinion about policy on the subject. Handguns on the streets of America are some of the most reliable machines of the planet, according to a police officer I know. Defensereview.com says of the standard Glock: "I must have fired over 1,000 rounds through it without any kind of malfunction. It fed every kind of bullet, every time". The magistrate posted a $300,000 bail for the man.
Secondly, there is a benefit concert tonight for a famous sousaphone player who started an even more famous brass band in 1977(!), a band that still plays today. Over the past year he's had heart problems and there have been various benefit concerts in his name. Tonight's concert is not for that reason, not because he has passed on, but because police apparently pulled him off-stage during a gig last week for not paying child support.
I would never say pointing a gun at police or neglecting child support is OK. But, the way police and the government in general treat the population here is oftentimes surprising.
Although NOLA might be in a state of decay, this is not a bad trajectory by any means. All things are in a state of decay. Decay means "to break down". When musicians say "break it down" the band cuts to bass and drums. In this there is rebirth, stripping off the busy layers to a more simple way of doing things.
Until New Orleans and Louisiana can strip off the old way of doing things, there will be no rebirth. The Obama administration also needs to pay special attention to the Gulf Coast, a region which was ignored by fact or de facto, during the Bush years. We started bombing Iraq the year before I went to college in New Orleans and three years before I was to evacuate New Orleans for Katrina. I still get very angry and emotional when I see bumper stickers that say "Make Levees, Not War". This is where I insert a cliche comment about how valuable the Gulf Coast is to our nation's culture and resources. Beyond the fact that you probably went to elementary school and/or have heard of this little thing, the "Louisiana Purchase", I won't tell you about New Orleans because I want you to come here and find out for yourself.
The musicians here (I'm one of them now) depend on tourism to pad the city's devoted music fanship attending the world-class clubs, Uptown and Downtown. I just realized by no premeditation that my last post ended with a solicitation for visitors to New Orleans. It's by no accident I end up talking about how everyone should come visit. Plus, we have a sweet futon you can stay on.
Wednesday, February 25
Post Mardi Gras Post
New Orleans wakes up in a haze this morning, dazed from an entire weekend of beads, booze and revelry.
I had a fantastic weekend this Mardi Gras, musically speaking. Frogs Gone Fishin' closed (that's right, closed) for Russell Batiste and Friends, friends who included Jason Neville and George Porter Jr. You can check out an awesome video of the Frogs performance that night here.
I danced all night to the Radiators at MOM'S BALL, an exclusive all-night concert in a warehouse across the Mississippi River. Monday night we repeated the all-night strategy at Galactic where I was let backstage by my friend Trombone Shorty.
Backstage at Tipitina's is possibly the best location for musical networking in the world at any given time. After speaking with a sax player from Dave Matthews Band and keyboard player from The Greyboy All-Stars, I spoke with all the guys from Galactic and was invited to sit-in in a couple weeks with their side project.
Somewhat starstruck, we emerged from Tipitina's at 6 am to find that there were no more stars and a warm Mardi Gras day morning and the raucous Zulu parade had enveloped the city. I stumbled home, slept the day away yesterday and am ready to get back to business. The music business.
That's why today, I'm announcing a shift in the focus of my blog. Due to suggestions from people I value in the industry and the fact that my daily life is about as interesting as mud in the Mississippi, I'll try to focus on broader issues in the music business. You can always find out what's going on with Frogs Gone Fishin' at our website, and if I encounter an experience which warrants larger analysis, I will certainly write about it.
I'll be posting less, but hopefully more in depth. While in NOLA I want to buckle down and write some fulfilling music and stop worrying as much about tour and the absurd social implications of traveling constantly. Negotiating my relationships (social or business) is getting exhausting and I feel I need to take a step back, before taking the huge step forward that will be our return to Colorado and ultimately, the execution of Mountainside Mardi Gras in the summer.
I had a fantastic weekend this Mardi Gras, musically speaking. Frogs Gone Fishin' closed (that's right, closed) for Russell Batiste and Friends, friends who included Jason Neville and George Porter Jr. You can check out an awesome video of the Frogs performance that night here.
I danced all night to the Radiators at MOM'S BALL, an exclusive all-night concert in a warehouse across the Mississippi River. Monday night we repeated the all-night strategy at Galactic where I was let backstage by my friend Trombone Shorty.
Backstage at Tipitina's is possibly the best location for musical networking in the world at any given time. After speaking with a sax player from Dave Matthews Band and keyboard player from The Greyboy All-Stars, I spoke with all the guys from Galactic and was invited to sit-in in a couple weeks with their side project.
Somewhat starstruck, we emerged from Tipitina's at 6 am to find that there were no more stars and a warm Mardi Gras day morning and the raucous Zulu parade had enveloped the city. I stumbled home, slept the day away yesterday and am ready to get back to business. The music business.
That's why today, I'm announcing a shift in the focus of my blog. Due to suggestions from people I value in the industry and the fact that my daily life is about as interesting as mud in the Mississippi, I'll try to focus on broader issues in the music business. You can always find out what's going on with Frogs Gone Fishin' at our website, and if I encounter an experience which warrants larger analysis, I will certainly write about it.
I'll be posting less, but hopefully more in depth. While in NOLA I want to buckle down and write some fulfilling music and stop worrying as much about tour and the absurd social implications of traveling constantly. Negotiating my relationships (social or business) is getting exhausting and I feel I need to take a step back, before taking the huge step forward that will be our return to Colorado and ultimately, the execution of Mountainside Mardi Gras in the summer.
Tuesday, February 17
Mardi Gras
Today I find myself in Nashville, once again, due to a gig cancellation and the desire to spend some time with family in Austin while the band moved down the road to Houston. Flying to Nashville to catch a ride to NOLA with friends proved to be the cheapest option for my ever tightening musician's budget.
Our horn section in the South, The Horny Toads, will be joining us on Friday in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, as well. They will add that extra kick to a couple tunes as we open up for the ubiquitously funky Russell Batiste (Funky Meters) and George Porter Jr. (Meters).
Although our gig scheduled for Thursday was canceled, we can now arrive in New Orleans mid-week and begin promoting what should be one of the most fun shows we've ever played.
Friday is not only our debut in New Orleans as new residents, but the unofficial weekend-start to Mardi Gras. For those of you who don't know what Mardi Gras is, come out the cave! What we have here is the best party in America, one that is fun for all-ages despite the traditional boobs-for-beads stereotype which prevails.
Sure, debauchery is a key word when talking about Mardi Gras. The wider implications for the city of New Orleans however, should silence any moral judgments about who Mardi Gras is "good for". Mardi Gras is not good, but great for all New Orleanians. Not because they receive four dedicated days for drinking (they drink when they want, anyway), but because of the economic impact and publicity which New Orleans desperately needs.
Beyond infusing cash into the city and bringing in tourists from around the world, Mardi Gras also resets the city-clock of NOLA. After Mardi Gras, things halt to a standstill. Over the course of the year, beginning with Jazzfest in May, the city begins to bloom, then flourish, then overtake itself with revelry in time for next year's Gras.
In light of the fact that we have several dozen bodies who plan on crashing at our newly acquired house in New Orleans, I say, the more the merrier. So grab a drive-thru daquiri, come on Uptown, and check out the best party in America.
Our horn section in the South, The Horny Toads, will be joining us on Friday in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, as well. They will add that extra kick to a couple tunes as we open up for the ubiquitously funky Russell Batiste (Funky Meters) and George Porter Jr. (Meters).
Although our gig scheduled for Thursday was canceled, we can now arrive in New Orleans mid-week and begin promoting what should be one of the most fun shows we've ever played.
Friday is not only our debut in New Orleans as new residents, but the unofficial weekend-start to Mardi Gras. For those of you who don't know what Mardi Gras is, come out the cave! What we have here is the best party in America, one that is fun for all-ages despite the traditional boobs-for-beads stereotype which prevails.
Sure, debauchery is a key word when talking about Mardi Gras. The wider implications for the city of New Orleans however, should silence any moral judgments about who Mardi Gras is "good for". Mardi Gras is not good, but great for all New Orleanians. Not because they receive four dedicated days for drinking (they drink when they want, anyway), but because of the economic impact and publicity which New Orleans desperately needs.
Beyond infusing cash into the city and bringing in tourists from around the world, Mardi Gras also resets the city-clock of NOLA. After Mardi Gras, things halt to a standstill. Over the course of the year, beginning with Jazzfest in May, the city begins to bloom, then flourish, then overtake itself with revelry in time for next year's Gras.
In light of the fact that we have several dozen bodies who plan on crashing at our newly acquired house in New Orleans, I say, the more the merrier. So grab a drive-thru daquiri, come on Uptown, and check out the best party in America.
Monday, February 9
Southwestern Skies
Since leaving Durango last Friday, the Frogs have been on what I'd call a directed meander through Arizona and New Mexico. After playing Flagstaff and Taos last weekend, we've had four days to kill and it hasn't been as difficult as I originally thought while rolling down from the mountains into the vast unpopulated desert in Arizona.
The Southwest is not only filled with people, however, but some of the most interesting personalities I've met on tour yet.
In Durango we stayed with musician and friend GiGi Love. She showed us the utmost hospitality. One thing you notice about GiGi is how directly her songs relate to her life experiences. I appreciate that because I tend to write about life in general and have trouble going into detail while GiGi's music is almost spiritual because there is little distinction between her existence and her music. It was her spirit that began a string of more and more interesting visions of Southwestern souls who, ignoring their bodily presence, have most likely been here as long as the moon.
Among all the weathered souls, some might call them hippies, one in particular stands out. After our sets at the Taos Inn, where the best collection of modern cowboys in the world drink whiskey, a man named Y'Israel invited us out to his RV in the parking lot. The interior was a complete mess, cans and bottles littering the nonfunctional kitchen as we sat down to the overpowering smell of patchouli incense. Y'Israel began to tell us of his visions of interstellar peace and by the end of the conversation had gifted a "star-light" (small rock) to our drummer Mark. Bewildered, yet certain I will write a book about these people one day, I walked back to the hotel and fell asleep.
That night, I started dreaming. At set-break during the show, a distinctly Navajo man named Rich had told me about how his living ancestors had predicted mass-violence, right before the US invaded Iraq, based on a red sunset they had observed over the mountains. And so that night, I dreamt of the sky in the Southwest.
As I think about Rich and his ancestors' prediction, I realize the sky is the defining, unique aspect of this region. The sun, moon, clouds and sunset all look more vibrant here. What is intangible, however, is the unique spirituality of the people in this place. Maybe due to the Native American presence, maybe serving as a last outpost for the earthy-hippy archetype, who knows?
Today we leave for Texas and a different vibe altogether. We've taken on another musician in our merry band, as well. His name is Richard (Sir Richard, to us) and he's a fiddle player from Wales who's been hitchhiking across America. As I've said before, we are not prone to picking up hitchhikers, but Richard's presence at our hostel in Albuquerque was so quiet and peaceful, we had to take him along.
Austin will be our gateway to New Orleans, where the Native American spirits mixed with African traditions, creating some of the heaviest mojo in America and also its biggest party: Mardi Gras.
The Southwest is not only filled with people, however, but some of the most interesting personalities I've met on tour yet.
In Durango we stayed with musician and friend GiGi Love. She showed us the utmost hospitality. One thing you notice about GiGi is how directly her songs relate to her life experiences. I appreciate that because I tend to write about life in general and have trouble going into detail while GiGi's music is almost spiritual because there is little distinction between her existence and her music. It was her spirit that began a string of more and more interesting visions of Southwestern souls who, ignoring their bodily presence, have most likely been here as long as the moon.
Among all the weathered souls, some might call them hippies, one in particular stands out. After our sets at the Taos Inn, where the best collection of modern cowboys in the world drink whiskey, a man named Y'Israel invited us out to his RV in the parking lot. The interior was a complete mess, cans and bottles littering the nonfunctional kitchen as we sat down to the overpowering smell of patchouli incense. Y'Israel began to tell us of his visions of interstellar peace and by the end of the conversation had gifted a "star-light" (small rock) to our drummer Mark. Bewildered, yet certain I will write a book about these people one day, I walked back to the hotel and fell asleep.
That night, I started dreaming. At set-break during the show, a distinctly Navajo man named Rich had told me about how his living ancestors had predicted mass-violence, right before the US invaded Iraq, based on a red sunset they had observed over the mountains. And so that night, I dreamt of the sky in the Southwest.
As I think about Rich and his ancestors' prediction, I realize the sky is the defining, unique aspect of this region. The sun, moon, clouds and sunset all look more vibrant here. What is intangible, however, is the unique spirituality of the people in this place. Maybe due to the Native American presence, maybe serving as a last outpost for the earthy-hippy archetype, who knows?
Today we leave for Texas and a different vibe altogether. We've taken on another musician in our merry band, as well. His name is Richard (Sir Richard, to us) and he's a fiddle player from Wales who's been hitchhiking across America. As I've said before, we are not prone to picking up hitchhikers, but Richard's presence at our hostel in Albuquerque was so quiet and peaceful, we had to take him along.
Austin will be our gateway to New Orleans, where the Native American spirits mixed with African traditions, creating some of the heaviest mojo in America and also its biggest party: Mardi Gras.
Wednesday, February 4
Big Moves
Frogs Gone Fishin' leaves on a three month journey today: two weeks of tour followed by a springtime residence in my favorite city in the world, New Orleans. It will still be very much a journey living in New Orleans, even after establishing ourselves in (yet another) 3-month sub-lease. Making a living playing music in New Orleans will be slightly different than in our favorite state in the world, Colorado. Gigs have been plentiful in the mountains and the front-range area where clubs are not necessarily saturated with live talent year-round like clubs in New Orleans are.
Club owners in NOLA are particularly opposed to technology it seems, oftentimes rejecting the internet and even voice-mail as means of booking acts, leaving you the sole option of patronizing the club over and over until contact with the elusive owner has been made.
That said, certain elements of the New Orleans music scene are much more accessible to the average musician. For example, I've opened for artists like Rebirth Brass Band, Talib Kweli and Juvenile in NOLA, whereas we struggle to find opening spots in Denver, due in large part to the fact that many major artists who come to Denver are controlled by large corporate entities ie; Live Nation (more on some big moves there in a bit). It is the accessibility to bigger acts and better musicians that makes NOLA an attractive place to spend our spring. We love the Denver/Boulder/Mountain region and plan to return, but the funky knowledge we will gain, just by inhaling the swampy musical molecules floating around The Gulf Coast, will benefit our Colorado friends in the long run.
Between packing up my limited personal belongings before the move, finishing the Lay It Out So You Can Play It Out series, and all the other band and For/Sure Productions business going on, I've still had some time to stay analytical about the music business at large.
I read an article on Forbes.com the other day, titled "The Microsoft of the Entertainment Industry". The piece analyzed a potential merger between two music industry behemoths: Live Nation and Ticketmaster. You already know these companies well. The last time you went to see Madonna or Jay-Z at your local sports arena, you probably bought the tickets from Ticketmaster and noticed the tiny text on the top of the stub that says "Live Nation Presents...". These large conglomerate companies have been one of the few ticketing/promoting options in the business for several years now.
It seems that last year Ticketmaster starting buying up stake in promotion companies, while Live Nation was busy trying to start its own ticketing entity. Now it looks as though the individual companies have found a better way to reduce competition: a high-level merger! This news is particularly interesting after the jam community went abuzz last week when Live Nation bungled ticket sales for the highly anticipated return of jam-giant Phish.
We've all heard about monopolies and how bad they are for the marketplace. In the case of companies like Wal-Mart and Starbucks, the consumer can sometimes benefit from increased accessibility and lowered costs, despite limited market diversity.
Music is not a commodity, however. It is an art. True, some music serves a functional purpose, like a military march or some folk songs which help to transmit cultural information. But, Madonna is not a necessity for the transmission of cultural ideals! She is a luxury, a recreation that deserves fair market competition, or the consumer ends up losing, hard.
Concert prices are high enough as it is. I know that within our promotion company, For/Sure Productions, we debate a lot about how to keep ticket prices down. We could care less about a ticketing agency's break-even point. With a TicketNation merger, all that would go out the window.
Sometimes Big Moves hurt the Little Guy.
Club owners in NOLA are particularly opposed to technology it seems, oftentimes rejecting the internet and even voice-mail as means of booking acts, leaving you the sole option of patronizing the club over and over until contact with the elusive owner has been made.
That said, certain elements of the New Orleans music scene are much more accessible to the average musician. For example, I've opened for artists like Rebirth Brass Band, Talib Kweli and Juvenile in NOLA, whereas we struggle to find opening spots in Denver, due in large part to the fact that many major artists who come to Denver are controlled by large corporate entities ie; Live Nation (more on some big moves there in a bit). It is the accessibility to bigger acts and better musicians that makes NOLA an attractive place to spend our spring. We love the Denver/Boulder/Mountain region and plan to return, but the funky knowledge we will gain, just by inhaling the swampy musical molecules floating around The Gulf Coast, will benefit our Colorado friends in the long run.
Between packing up my limited personal belongings before the move, finishing the Lay It Out So You Can Play It Out series, and all the other band and For/Sure Productions business going on, I've still had some time to stay analytical about the music business at large.
I read an article on Forbes.com the other day, titled "The Microsoft of the Entertainment Industry". The piece analyzed a potential merger between two music industry behemoths: Live Nation and Ticketmaster. You already know these companies well. The last time you went to see Madonna or Jay-Z at your local sports arena, you probably bought the tickets from Ticketmaster and noticed the tiny text on the top of the stub that says "Live Nation Presents...". These large conglomerate companies have been one of the few ticketing/promoting options in the business for several years now.
It seems that last year Ticketmaster starting buying up stake in promotion companies, while Live Nation was busy trying to start its own ticketing entity. Now it looks as though the individual companies have found a better way to reduce competition: a high-level merger! This news is particularly interesting after the jam community went abuzz last week when Live Nation bungled ticket sales for the highly anticipated return of jam-giant Phish.
We've all heard about monopolies and how bad they are for the marketplace. In the case of companies like Wal-Mart and Starbucks, the consumer can sometimes benefit from increased accessibility and lowered costs, despite limited market diversity.
Music is not a commodity, however. It is an art. True, some music serves a functional purpose, like a military march or some folk songs which help to transmit cultural information. But, Madonna is not a necessity for the transmission of cultural ideals! She is a luxury, a recreation that deserves fair market competition, or the consumer ends up losing, hard.
Concert prices are high enough as it is. I know that within our promotion company, For/Sure Productions, we debate a lot about how to keep ticket prices down. We could care less about a ticketing agency's break-even point. With a TicketNation merger, all that would go out the window.
Sometimes Big Moves hurt the Little Guy.
Thursday, January 29
Play it Out IV/V
Lay it Out, So You Can Play it Out
pts. 4 and 5, Rehearsal and Marketing
pts. 4 and 5, Rehearsal and Marketing
After reading parts 1 through 3 and using the information therein to book and play your first show, you're now officially a professional gigging musician. What to do now? How to fill your days now that you've found your passion?
There are two good answers to these questions: rehearsal and marketing. If you concentrate on these two aspects of your career you will constantly a) get more and different people to come to your shows and b) make sure they come back the next time because you've effectively lowered the chances you'll botch a performance and look like the musical village idiot.
Marketing (to me, not some college prof.) means two things. One, street level marketing which includes print, radio, posters, handbills, newspapers, magazines and generally talking to the average dude or lady about what it is you do and why they should come to your show. Never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth. Second, online promotion which should equal or exceed your level of street promo. A third category which is technically not marketing but really just exposure, involves PR situations such as TV interviews or CD album reviews.
Your online presence is particularly important. iTunes, CDbaby, Amazon, AOL, Pandora, Reverbnation, Virb, blogs, music industry websites.... all these and more should be able to access and publish information about your group, whether or not they actively solicit the information themselves. In other words, if a site has a submission page, fill it out! Pretty soon you will realize that most websites get their info from other websites, and your presence online will grow exponentially.
In terms of street-promo, just use common sense. Make sure your posters are readable from a distance, use color, go above and beyond the clip-art that comes with your word-processing software, and put up two dozen more posters than you think you need to put up.
Overall make sure your presence is properly "branded". All marketing materials should look uniform, so people can recognize your brand with one glance at a webpage or poster.
Do all this, avoid booking shows on nights with competing events, and the people will come. Now all you need to do is practice.
Most musicians have no idea how much rehearsal time really goes in to making songs perfect and executing them perfectly, even songs with heavy improvisation. World-class orchestras (and many bands) get to that status because there is a task-master-type conductor or band-leader cracking the whip every practice. I've had drumsticks thrown at me for missing notes in practice by big, scary band-leaders in New Orleans who have no tolerance for mistakes.
I prefer a more open type of rehearsal where everyone is free to positively critisize each other and the result is not only better because it is the sum of many ideas, but because everyone can be happy and feel invested in the project. The main idea is to get specific. If it sounds like someone is messing something up, go back, figure out what is happening. Correct it and move on.
I really do welcome any questions from musicians about how we at Frogs Gone Fishin' are able to support ourselves as a yound band (in a bad economy).
Next post, The Big Move.
There are two good answers to these questions: rehearsal and marketing. If you concentrate on these two aspects of your career you will constantly a) get more and different people to come to your shows and b) make sure they come back the next time because you've effectively lowered the chances you'll botch a performance and look like the musical village idiot.
Marketing (to me, not some college prof.) means two things. One, street level marketing which includes print, radio, posters, handbills, newspapers, magazines and generally talking to the average dude or lady about what it is you do and why they should come to your show. Never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth. Second, online promotion which should equal or exceed your level of street promo. A third category which is technically not marketing but really just exposure, involves PR situations such as TV interviews or CD album reviews.
Your online presence is particularly important. iTunes, CDbaby, Amazon, AOL, Pandora, Reverbnation, Virb, blogs, music industry websites.... all these and more should be able to access and publish information about your group, whether or not they actively solicit the information themselves. In other words, if a site has a submission page, fill it out! Pretty soon you will realize that most websites get their info from other websites, and your presence online will grow exponentially.
In terms of street-promo, just use common sense. Make sure your posters are readable from a distance, use color, go above and beyond the clip-art that comes with your word-processing software, and put up two dozen more posters than you think you need to put up.
Overall make sure your presence is properly "branded". All marketing materials should look uniform, so people can recognize your brand with one glance at a webpage or poster.
Do all this, avoid booking shows on nights with competing events, and the people will come. Now all you need to do is practice.
Most musicians have no idea how much rehearsal time really goes in to making songs perfect and executing them perfectly, even songs with heavy improvisation. World-class orchestras (and many bands) get to that status because there is a task-master-type conductor or band-leader cracking the whip every practice. I've had drumsticks thrown at me for missing notes in practice by big, scary band-leaders in New Orleans who have no tolerance for mistakes.
I prefer a more open type of rehearsal where everyone is free to positively critisize each other and the result is not only better because it is the sum of many ideas, but because everyone can be happy and feel invested in the project. The main idea is to get specific. If it sounds like someone is messing something up, go back, figure out what is happening. Correct it and move on.
I really do welcome any questions from musicians about how we at Frogs Gone Fishin' are able to support ourselves as a yound band (in a bad economy).
Next post, The Big Move.
Thursday, January 22
Late Winter Update
Although it's been a balmy 67 degrees in Denver for the past two days, winter is still dormant somewhere over the mountains and will show its hoary face again. The break in the cold seems to coincide with a small break in performing the Frogs have this week. For the first time in a month or so, we don't have at least 2 shows per week. That is, until Monday when we play Sancho's in Denver, that bastion of dreadlocked revelry on illustrious Colfax.
This lull in performing has allowed for other activity to take place around the house and elsewhere, oftentimes leading to more performing, but a deviation from the norm regardless. We get to rehearse intensively, leaving our equipment set up to play "at our our every whim", as Steve put it in an interview the other day. Several of us are sitting in with other bands in Boulder and the mountains. In an extraordinarily weird situation, my sit-in time with our Boulder buddies Springdale Quartet has been lengthened because their opening act, Bill "Kobe" McKay, has been put in jail after a show he was playing near Vail. We get to cook (clean) and sleep on a schedule resembling normalcy.
The down time is refreshing, but not leisurely. For/Sure Production's work pace is at record high, as our artwork and website will hopefully be available to you, the public, in the next couple weeks. Making our artists happy, our venue happy and gathering sponsorship dollars are all of top priority right now, in order to make our festival a success.
Check back in coming days for the announcement of exactly which artists will be jamming out at Mountainside Mardi Gras, and the last couple installments of Lay It Out, So You Can Play It Out.
This lull in performing has allowed for other activity to take place around the house and elsewhere, oftentimes leading to more performing, but a deviation from the norm regardless. We get to rehearse intensively, leaving our equipment set up to play "at our our every whim", as Steve put it in an interview the other day. Several of us are sitting in with other bands in Boulder and the mountains. In an extraordinarily weird situation, my sit-in time with our Boulder buddies Springdale Quartet has been lengthened because their opening act, Bill "Kobe" McKay, has been put in jail after a show he was playing near Vail. We get to cook (clean) and sleep on a schedule resembling normalcy.
The down time is refreshing, but not leisurely. For/Sure Production's work pace is at record high, as our artwork and website will hopefully be available to you, the public, in the next couple weeks. Making our artists happy, our venue happy and gathering sponsorship dollars are all of top priority right now, in order to make our festival a success.
Check back in coming days for the announcement of exactly which artists will be jamming out at Mountainside Mardi Gras, and the last couple installments of Lay It Out, So You Can Play It Out.
Friday, January 16
Television
I got up very early this morning. For the second day in a row, Frogs Gone Fishin' performed for the Vail morning news. Channel 8 and Plum TV (ch. 16) have both been more than accommodating toward our music and have provided ample publicity for the shows we are also playing while in the mountains this weekend. Some of our clips will air time after time throughout coming weeks in the valley.
But it is the very shows which we are on TV publicizing that make the interviews and performances exceedingly stressful. For example, we returned from our gig in Beaver Creek at 3 30am last night, went to sleep for 3 hours before waking up and struggling deeply to drag our hungover carcasses to embark on the 20 minute drive to the TV studio. Once at the studio, our time was characterized by much waiting and anticipation under lights that are so bright, we were told they retain UV properties.
TV personalities are unbelievably caffeinated and energetic in the morning. They have to be to compensate for the sleepy interviewees who stumble in for the morning show. I suppose the guy from the winery, showing off his new vintages in the segment before we played, went to sleep sometime before 3 30 last night. Nobody ever said bands are supposed to be morning people.
After two morning news performances, two interviews, and a raging show last night, I figured writing a post this afternoon would help me comprehend the last 24 hours, move on and take a nap with all this TV business behind us for now...
..Until waking up at 3pm to drive over to our last interview of the weekend, before loading-in for the show tonight. I suppose sleep can wait.
But it is the very shows which we are on TV publicizing that make the interviews and performances exceedingly stressful. For example, we returned from our gig in Beaver Creek at 3 30am last night, went to sleep for 3 hours before waking up and struggling deeply to drag our hungover carcasses to embark on the 20 minute drive to the TV studio. Once at the studio, our time was characterized by much waiting and anticipation under lights that are so bright, we were told they retain UV properties.
TV personalities are unbelievably caffeinated and energetic in the morning. They have to be to compensate for the sleepy interviewees who stumble in for the morning show. I suppose the guy from the winery, showing off his new vintages in the segment before we played, went to sleep sometime before 3 30 last night. Nobody ever said bands are supposed to be morning people.
After two morning news performances, two interviews, and a raging show last night, I figured writing a post this afternoon would help me comprehend the last 24 hours, move on and take a nap with all this TV business behind us for now...
..Until waking up at 3pm to drive over to our last interview of the weekend, before loading-in for the show tonight. I suppose sleep can wait.
Monday, January 12
Play It Out pt. III
Lay It Out So You Can Play It Out
pt. 3 Read the Crowd so you'll Please the Crowd
pt. 3 Read the Crowd so you'll Please the Crowd
So by now you've undoubtedly followed the advice in my first two Play It Out segments and not only overcome the mental obstacles blocking your path to a new music career (and new life), but booked your very first gig, as well. 12 days into the New Year and you're practically a new man!
I'd like to spend this post talking about reading the crowd who has shown up to see you execute your meticulously practiced performance. You might say to yourself, why haven't I talked about your meticulous rehearsal, or how I promoted so well to get all these people here?!? I'm assuming that if you want to play gigs you probably practice a lot anyway, and most promoting is done initially by word of mouth that will occur between you and your friends naturally. That said, the next segment will be about both practice and advertising (and all the other musician-type stuff you'll do in your ample spare time during the day).
I want to start with reading the crowd because it is an art which takes the longest to perfect (I certainly haven't) out of the many skills that playing in public requires. After all, once you've practiced concentrating on keeping time and playing that bridge section just right, selecting which drumsticks to use for which song and which songs to play at all, peering out from behind the cymbals just to watch people dance might seem futile or pointless at best.
At first, it will be. After many shows of practice however, musicians can learn to remove the visual/auditory barrier which can, at first, hinder playing. If this barrier is removed, music can then flow out of you in a manner that is fueled by the audience and in turn, fuels their energy to keep dancing or listening.
While all of this can be accomplished by watching people's feet or hips, it's also important to observe the overall mood of the entire room. If your audience looks tired from the 20-minute jazz-funk-metal odyssey the band just embarked on, they are! Play something slow and simple next. Refresh their ears. Most importantly, put yourself in their shoes on the listening side of the equation. If you think things are getting boring and monotonous, you're probably right.
We'll get to the rehearsing and marketing stuff soon. Just watch those hips for now and in the words of the Isley Brothers:
"It's your thing, do what you wanna do. I can't tell you, who to sock it to."
I'd like to spend this post talking about reading the crowd who has shown up to see you execute your meticulously practiced performance. You might say to yourself, why haven't I talked about your meticulous rehearsal, or how I promoted so well to get all these people here?!? I'm assuming that if you want to play gigs you probably practice a lot anyway, and most promoting is done initially by word of mouth that will occur between you and your friends naturally. That said, the next segment will be about both practice and advertising (and all the other musician-type stuff you'll do in your ample spare time during the day).
I want to start with reading the crowd because it is an art which takes the longest to perfect (I certainly haven't) out of the many skills that playing in public requires. After all, once you've practiced concentrating on keeping time and playing that bridge section just right, selecting which drumsticks to use for which song and which songs to play at all, peering out from behind the cymbals just to watch people dance might seem futile or pointless at best.
At first, it will be. After many shows of practice however, musicians can learn to remove the visual/auditory barrier which can, at first, hinder playing. If this barrier is removed, music can then flow out of you in a manner that is fueled by the audience and in turn, fuels their energy to keep dancing or listening.
While all of this can be accomplished by watching people's feet or hips, it's also important to observe the overall mood of the entire room. If your audience looks tired from the 20-minute jazz-funk-metal odyssey the band just embarked on, they are! Play something slow and simple next. Refresh their ears. Most importantly, put yourself in their shoes on the listening side of the equation. If you think things are getting boring and monotonous, you're probably right.
We'll get to the rehearsing and marketing stuff soon. Just watch those hips for now and in the words of the Isley Brothers:
"It's your thing, do what you wanna do. I can't tell you, who to sock it to."
Monday, January 5
Play It Out pt. II
Lay It Out So You Can Play It Out
pt. 2 Obstacles
pt. 2 Obstacles
The primary obstacles to starting a music career are mental. Most aspiring musicians can’t imagine putting in the amount of time and effort necessary to “make it”. The biggest problem with that way of thinking comes with the definition of “making it”. Many people assume “making it” means playing sold-out shows in large amphitheaters or stadiums, money and widespread fame.
By that definition, most of the musicians we know and love have not “made it”. Of course that depends on the style of music you prefer; Top-40 listeners will certainly enjoy some artists who play stadiums and end up making money off of touring and merchandise, but most artists do not enjoy revenue from their record label (it’s better to run your own) and during these economic times, touring and selling records becomes tough. “Making it” then becomes providing for your self and family and expecting a steady income, even if it is not an enormous sum.
If the aspiring artist is willing to adjust his conception of what “making it” means, and is willing to treat his career as a nine-to-five like any other job, great results can come about.
Once our aspiring artist’s attitude is adjusted toward realistic success, he is then ready to tackle the very real problems associated with the transfer from his current career path, to a musically oriented lifestyle.
If our musician is a student, she can quickly enter the “real-world” of gigging regularly and selling recordings and merchandise after finishing her studies. If she is currently employed, she may have to spend some time gigging and working intermittently, in order to save enough to make the full-time switch to music.
After that switch however, a musician’s success will be directly proportional to how hard they work at what they do. They must eat, sleep and breathe music everyday: write, promote, book, market, advertise, rehearse and polish, not to mention playing the gigs themselves.
For those who choose this path there is great reward. The first step is the hardest. There are many decent resources regarding different aspects of the music business and how to promote and protect yourself. Everyone should copyright their material and most recording artists should consider joining a PRO (Performance Rights Organization) who will make sure you receive your royalties if your music is played live or on the radio.
Get out there and lay it out, so you can play it out!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)