Acoustic All-Stars 2012 = Success and Mucho fun!!!

What a weekend!!!  

Let me just start here….. See, this is the 5^th year of the AAS and a tiny bit of history is in order to give you a better idea of how awesome this weekend was.

We started our search for a venue to hold an acoustic music festival at a place called Club Celsius in Park City. They closed down and show was a no go. Then we played at The Star Bar for a show opening for Joshua James and Benton Paul. We fell in love with the staff and the bar set up and got our first venue for the AAS. The first year we had a small crowd.  The second a decent crowd. We implemented the ticketing system that year.  The Third year, we opened the doors to a line down the street of ticket holders.  Then, discord with staff and owner at The Star Bar made all the people we were previously working with jump ship. We couldn’t ask our artists to rely on such unpredictable circumstances and had to jump ship as well. We thought, we want to go to where Celsius was again! So the 4^th year was at The Downstairs. This year we were able to get a few sponsors, make t shirts, pay for advertising, etc.

In the end, I apologize to The Downstairs for this, but we were miserable with the results. The Staff wasn’t friendly, the owner’s expectations were unrealistic, and the seating was atrocious. We had to leave.

The first time we talked to Mischell and Mario about having the 5^th year at Fats, we were at the end of our rope. We heard rumor the previous year of artists complaining that they were too good for a 30 minute set and that we weren’t paying them.  We were at the point that if this year didn’t work out we were going to stop. We also decided that the stress and taxes of having sponsors wasn’t worth it. We weren’t able to spend the time on making the fest the best it could be because we were trying so hard to make money. Unfortunately, we don’t make money on this fest. Fortunately, it is more fun that way. Weird I know. lol

Now, I mean this in the best way possible, but artists…we set up the ticketing system because we can’t afford to pay you. What’s more, we will never be able to pay you all more than you could make with your tickets. Yes, I know you’re being nice and giving them out just to get people to come see you, but that’s YOUR decision. We have had a few people over the years say ‘now if only you could pay us.’  Well, we technically do. You’re just not earning it. I’m sorry but that’s the fact. We give you enough tickets (and you can request more) to sell them and make a good profit. We give tickets out to get people in so the bar makes money and we keep the little bit of money from the door which rarely covers our overhead. We apologize because this year we just didn’t have the money for any advertising but IMAGINE next year when we do J

What you don’t see is that 90% of the attendees are A:Friends of the bar and don’t pay, B: Have Tickets or are on a list, or C: Come in late enough we don’t charge them. Honest math…..If we took our profit (Overall income  + our own merch profit – (MINUS) Photographer, Food, tipping bar, making T shirts, making posters, purchasing tickets (that we give you), and gas to hang fliers, pick up fliers, back and forth to venue all weekend, etc that would pay each band evenly $8.09. I’m totally not exaggerating lol.

I just needed, for myself, to explain that to anyone who wonders why we don’t pay you. We would love to. We really would. But the tickets were brought out to make sure you all could make some money. If you don’t we are not responsible. We also don’t mind if you give them out. But really, what’s the difference of asking people to buy them or asking them to pay a door fee? It’s the same amount. If they are your friends / fans they’ll give you 5$  J

Anyway, what was wonderful about this year was that there was no discord, there was no artists acting like princesses, everyone was on time or early, people hung out, ate, bought or were given tickets, and we all had fun. The staff was friendly, the food was great, the drinks were cheap, and we all left with a happy warm feeling.

We will definitely have a year 6 and it will be even better. 

Off subject for a second…….Last, I want to pay tribute to our good friend Ischa of Minx.

I have been watching her amazing stage presence and ability to just give her performance all she has and I truly look up to her. She is a phenomenal performer and I see her as any musician’s perfect role model. There are things I have always wanted to do on stage and seeing her grace and professionalism has been pushing me to get out of my comfort zone and just do it.

Last night I took my mic off the stand for the first time and sang Alanis. I was so scary. I thought sure I’d pull the mic off and hit myself in the face and end up bleeding, ruin the song, everyone would laugh at me, and Id go home and curl up like a dead spider lol.

It was amazing and empowering and I loved it.

Thank you Ischa. You’re beautiful and inspiring and your inspiring nature lead to one of the best performances we have ever had . Xoxo

Last!

All the musicians this weekend were awesome and we want to thank everyone who stayed for our performance. It was Sunday and everyone works today but the people who stayed for our set are the best friends anyone could ask for. We like to take smaller sets and lesser loved times every once in a while just to makes sure its fair and that everyone knows that side stages and opening the show are not a reflection of your talent but merely the fact that not everyone can play the main stage and not everyone can have the best time slot. Those of you who took time out of your busy schedules to stay and listen to the last band of the festival are our heroes and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You made last night end with a bang and we had no idea we could even imagine that outcome.

Thank you all again. Next year is going to rock your socks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out photos!!  http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Tim-Candelaria-Photography/305338682811887

Next. Acoustic All Stars August 11 at Rovali's in Ogden!!!

Booking....all up in your face!

I want to send out unwarranted advice to any musician who is interested in booking gigs.
If you are paying someone to book that doesn't give you information for your gigs it makes YOU look bad when you're late, missing equipment you needed etc so if you can get a handle on this yourself, you're golden AND you will make more $$. If you find someone who can do this for you as well as you could without getting you blacklisted from gigs, TAKE IT!

I get asked about booking....a lot. If you don't know...Ty and I play A LOT. At LEAST 1 show a week. Average 2. Sometimes 3 and on a crazy week 4 but that's VERY rare. But still..its not quantity. its quality. I could make us play every night if I wanted to but we still work full time and that's rough. Because I am able to get us booked on a consistent basis for months at a time, I somehow have started getting asked advice. At first I though it was unfair for me to give advice on something I know very little about. Then, I started talking to the people who were asking and it occurred to me...We have been doing this...this intense.... for a few years now.
I decided that perception is 99% of success. If you ask someone when their next opening is, and they say 2 months or 3 months down the line, its a little impressive. If you ask and they have no shows nor prospects, it takes away a bit of dazzle. Tell me I'm wrong here.
Some of the people who ask have yet to play out live.
I encourage this. Performing live  scary as hell, and yet empowering and suddenly your song is over, and unless your crowd is a bunch of ass holes, you get this feeling that can't be beat. It may be applause, it may be silence, we all have our own desired result. Nothing is better than playing a song you really feel with all your heart and nailing it and then that rush that comes.

So. Here is my advice. This is not the bible. This is not set in stone in any way. Something I do may NOT work for someone else. As a matter of fact...adopt that idea NOW. If someone else is doing it, try something else. Sorry...its the way of the music world.
First. Do an open mic. You'll NEED to make sure you like it. I have seen people that said 'I want to play music SOOO bad!!!! and then they hated it...not many...but a few. Rinse and repeat. You need to play a bit before you start asking people to book you at venues and even more to ask them to pay you. Why would you hire someone to babysit your kids if they have never been around kids in their life?
Next, where can you perform? Obviously, If you're under 21...there's no reason to call bars.
Lets say you're us. Why? Because I don't know what has happened to everyone else....sillies.:)
Don't DECIDE where you can perform. Unfortunately, at least in Utah, very few "venues" besides clubs pay the musicians. This means, if you want to make a living, you need to figure out how to play a bar crowd. Do you HAVE to? Remember earlier when I said this isn't the bible? Ok. :) (playing a bar crowd...there is no advice. Figure it out your way because someone else's way is not YOU and crowds sense that.)
Play anywhere that will take you if you have to for the first little bit. Some places never even listen to your music and you open for heavy metal. This is perfectly normal. And I think good for you. If you can't hang with what ever is put in front of you, you'd better get good at it. Our first gig in SLC was at Burts Tiki Lounge. Nice folks. More than that though, you're getting experience.

How do I find gigs????
Ready??????
Get a phone book, or, if you are against hard, hold in your hand books with paper, go to google.
I will continue with phonebook reference. Translate to Google where necessary.
Open it.
Go to the yellow pages.
Look up bars, clubs, coffee shops, restaurants, pubs, entertainment....anything you can think of that associates music.
Pick a place.
Call them.
When they answer ask first (if you don't already know) 'Do you have live music there?' If they say no thank them and move on. If they say yes, ask them how a band would go about booking a performance there sometime. They will direct you one way or another from there. Do what they say. email? Call? Call after a certain time? (very common) Do it. If you keep calling back doing every thing you weren't supposed to do they will hate that.
Build your list and keep it. As you go you will run into multiple repetitive listings and you don't want to call the same place 3 times asking if they have live music. Also, you're building your call list. This is imperative to booking. I literally went down a copy of the phone book bars and restaurants yellow pages with a highlighter, called them all, asked if they had live music, and highlighted the ones that did. On each call I got any info on booking or took notes if I was to call back later.
My point of this initial calling was to get my list done and ready so I could call and look to it next time.
Its something I try to do again later and then will continue to do periodically to keep my listings up to date.
Booking is hard. Its scary. More than that, its time consuming to start. Just get to the point and be polite and courteous and professional. Booking people can be assholes, dicks, and bitches. Don't let it get you down. And remember, something bad has to happen at least once or you're dreaming.
A few years (Yes more than likely years) in, you will have met many new people along the way. Sometimes a gig you play for free will lead you to a paid opportunity. (Remember also, the easier you are to work with, reasonable, and nicer you are, the more likely they are to want to have you around). We have scored SOOO many amazing gigs from free gigs. We got booked at pride because we played at a free fundraiser gig and a guy who books for Pride happened to be there. Funny thing was we finished our set and Fox13 came in to film for the news so they missed us and we were sort of sad we were missed but then booking at Pride Fest is AMAZING and it was 100% worth playing that free gig.
We did a free gig at The First Unitarian Church that has music all the time and it lead to a few people that now email and hook us up with gigs.
We played at a summer concert the other day for free that lead to the manager of the restaurant giving us his email to book paying gigs.
Do NOT think you are above a gig. Either you love playing or you don't but you are not better than anyone or anything if you're just doing what you love. Otherwise, it becomes work. I don't want to work my life away. I want to play music.
Just remember, if you love something, you will find a way to have it. You will do what ever it takes, to get that to stay in your life, and you will be glad you did. Push through the crappiness of the first year of booking and then all of a sudden it pretty much does it on its own.
Remember that feeling older musicians? :)
Here are a few tips to help you.
Try this website indieonthemove.com  You can find venues you know or don't know and even gives you contact info for many places. It also lists the styles of music that they book and sometimes tells you if they pay. You can book in town or across the country and you can contact other musicians all over the US about gig trading.
Also, if you're stumped and google isn't helping try face book. It takes a little patience to find the right place to go but there is a way to search for live music in different cities. Its cool because many places wont be in a google search but they do have a face book page.
Good luck guys :) And remember. Booking SUCKS but if you can get good at it its so easy and pretty much does it on its own.

Finding Inspiration in a 9-5 World.

I feel very fortunte to have a job that I quite like. I work with super cool people in an environment far less frustrating and stressful than most. Don't get me wrong. We are super busy, but its not like the jobs I have had before. ANYWAY>
I feel music. I bleed it. My death will sound like a brilliant symphony if you know how to listen. I love music above anything else. (No offense Ty lol jk)
I wonder if musicians read this, and are trying to reach a point where they can just quit their jobs and be musicains full time. (I sure hope so) The thing is... Sometimes I have to remember that success never comes easily. Sometimes, I have to tell myself that it CAN be done.
This is when I look for more inspiration. Its like I have to conciously keep myself from being brainwashed of my former musical life and work the 9-5. Never gonna happen!
Here are the things I have to do to keep in touch with my dream.

*Listen consciously to music. I am a lyric person. I TOTALLY can't get over a real lyrical masterpiece. (What do you notice? Bass? Harmonies? Drums? What REALLT sets you off?)
*I teach myself the melodes and lyrics of random songs and find the pieces of the song that I am most moved by. I remember these. I sort of photograph them in my mind and then find a way to work something like it into a song. Somestimes I can, sometimes I can't.
*I watch for what everyone else is doing on Facebook, reverbnation, etc as often as I can. I like to see were everyone else is going because it creates drive.
*I like to see who people are performing with. Have I heard of them? Its alwasy fun to meet new musicians/friends.
*Listen to the Radio. You can listen to your CDs, iPod, etc, but when you listen to the radio, songs you wouldn't necessarily choose come on. It forces you to open your ears to something new. Anything new can be inpsiring.
*Write lyrics in a notepad on your desktop or with a pen and paper when they come to you. I don't mean songs. You could get in trouble for the time you'd put into that, unless you write songs fast or you are just in it and it just flows. Sometimes, you'll write something and never use it. Sometimes you'll write your favorite songs.
*Never let anyone make you feel bad for your dream. My last job had a few supportive co-workers, but there were definately a few that asked 'How our little thing was' in a very 'Im laughing at you on the inside' sort of way. NEVER LET THOSE PEOPLE GET TO YOU! Ever! Those are the people who have no dreams of their own and do not understand these things we call "Dreams". YOU should feel bad for THEM! lol (This all sounds so mean! It's just my view)
*Write what you feel. Forget if it sounds like the last song you wrote. Forget if the lyrics and melody are good. They'll get better with time and practice. Just keep writing what you feel. If I can deeply feel sad that I found a roach in my soup I COULD write a song about it. It would TOTALLY suck, but I could. The thing that matters is that if I did that, and you could feel the emotion in my song, it doesn't really matter what it's about. I mean....Look at 'MacArther Park' by Richard Harris
"MacArthur's Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down...
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don't think that I can take it
'cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again
Oh, no!"
I swear, that's part of a real song.
What's more? This song was a top 10 song for weeks in the 60's. Must have been all the drugs.
My point: Feel it. Forget what anyone else will think. And if it sucks realllllllly bad, play it anyway. Just once. Just to see what people think. I have songs I hate that everyone else LOVES! Advice on carrying that one will take too long lol.
There are more things I do, but these are the essentials for me. Just never give up. Never listen to anyone else. Dream your dreams the way YOU want to because you have to live with them later on. If someone talks you down and you look back thinking, 'Shit Why did I do it THAT way!?' it will ruin the whole experience. You never know what you can offer others. Don't sell yourself short. Its worth it, and you know it or you wouldn't still be dreaming it.
We play at The Fifth in Bountiful tonight with Peter Harvey and I am so excited! If you haven't seen them you should! Hope to see you at a show soon!

Our Thoughts on Over Saturation

To play or not to play, that REALLY is the question. Ty and I started out performing everywhere we could get our asses booked with a few things in mind:
1: Experience. The more you play out, the better your live show will be. Practice is great. Practice is necessary. But there is nothing that will train your live show like playing live for a bunch of people you don't know. Scratch that. People you DO know tend to be a little harder to 'entertain'. Now, this isn't ALWAYS true. Sometimes, they're easier because you can get a dialogue going with people while on stage and that can prove to be a great tool, but sometimes, people you know, though more likely to clap and applaud, are probably people who have heard all your songs, seen your act, and talked to you before the show so what else do you have to say to them? Sometimes, they are great because you can mess with them, and you're more comfortable, but this can also be bad. If you are talking to people you know, you're leaving potential new fans out and that helps no one. Is this REALLY something we think about before during and after a show? YES! More on this later.
Reason 2: No offense, but people are fickle. 'Out of sight out of mind'. Even the most famous of the famous are forgotten when out of the spotlight. Let me give you a few examples and we will see f you think ‘Oh yeah! Them!’ Aleecia Silverstone. Kirk Cameron. Matthew Lillard. Or on the opposite end of the spectrum, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, people who are ALWAYS in the news etc. They’re famous for being famous. In comes the saying 'there’s no such thing as bad press' or how ever you say it. Other people’s attention is what gets you noticed by new crowds. So if we play every weekend and sometimes during the week, there is more chance of people seeing our names SOMEWHERE over and over and over again. But do we want OR need that kind of attention? Do we want to be famous for being famous? Or do we want to be talented musicians who get credit where credit is due?
Reason 3: Playing shows = networking opportunities. Not only to build a fan base, but also to meet other musicians and build a community (which if you live in Utah, you KNOW is sorely needed.) Again, let me list a few musicians we met JUST from shows. Us Thieves. Wil Prater. Ashlee Dickson. Peter Harvey. There are WAY more but my point is this, we respect and enjoy their music and have continued to work with them all as a result.
Reason 4: We love it. Seriously, it is HARD work, and very exhausting to perform out every weekend almost always 2 nights a weekend. Packing, unpacking, no time off, work during the week, work during the weekend. (Though we have never seen this as ‘work’)
Ok. Culmination. Are we playing too much?? Do people see we are playing somewhere and say, ‘eh, I’ll catch em next week.’ Are we actually doing ourselves harm? Will we burn out?
OPPINNION section. We REALLY would love to hear thoughts on this. Our thought is this. Performers take breaks, go on hiatus, etc. but I have always felt (again no offense) that your relationships with the clubs you frequently play are just as important as all the other relationships you’re juggling. Not only are many clubs changing ownership, managers, and staff, but also booking agents. If we stop playing out for more than a week or 2, suddenly we are playing catch up. Sometimes, if you don’t book a place for a while, you call to book, and guess what. ‘We decided not to have live music anymore.’ Could you have prevented that? Maybe. Maybe they needed more musicians to perform and didn’t have a list built yet. Finding people to come perform was way more work then they wanted to put into it. This isn’t our job, no, but as a dedicated networking musician, I think we should take it upon ourselves to share our contacts with clubs and our clubs with contacts. Why? Because the more clubs die, the fewer places to perform, the more our music scene dies everyday. That….. would suck! So, our idea, is to perform more like 2-3 times a month instead of 6-8 in clubs, coffee shops etc. This way we can properly promote shows without the daily Facebook that everyone starts ignoring after the 5th one that week. I mean, think about it. When a band comes through town that you like, aren’t you more likely to go see them than do anything else because it’s for a limited time? Um…ya! We DO however feel that we need to keep performing so we are thinking of having weekend concerts in our basement 1-2 times a month. This is for the invited, the trusted, and the music loving people. We want to have other musicians come play with us. This would be like house concerts, but we would play at all of them. If no one comes, its practice lol. So, our friends our invited to our practice. No promoting, no Facebook posts, just a one time text saying ‘hey, house concerts on the 1 and 3rd Friday of the month’ (example) What do you think??
Finally retouching on reason #1. If we do this concert idea, we want suggestions, ideas, and general help. No performing artist can perform the same set, the same way, with the same banter every time. Its stale, and no one wants to see these more than 2 times at the most. These concerts would be to improve our entertainment skills. A boring musician who is talented is still boring.
So, is this the way to find a happy medium to the Lindsay Lohan or the Aleecia Silverstone way of life? Ready? Go!

“Come to me my pretties”

It seems that no matter what you’re taking about, keeping with and ahead of trends can turn anything into gold. But have you ever heard the phrase ‘All that shimmers is not gold’? I sure have. So what means “Gold” to you I wonder? Now, I know Ty and I are musicians and talk more about the music biz than anything else, but I think a lot of us forget that music IS a business. Therefore, why can’t some of our blogs include everyone? Well, they can but I don’t know if they will because I have never owned a restaurant, or a law firm, or anything else for that matter. I owned a car once…. I don’t think that counts.
I digress.
Today, I hear more about the glories of Social Media than anything else. I agree that it has its power, for one who not only knows how to use it, but uses it religiously. Lives for it. Those people can do anything with it, and when I say anything, I believe ANYTHING. Ty and I do not lol. This is why I feel a sense of relief when I see articles posted by gregdowns.com like this: http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/eight-recent-social-and-technical-phenomena-that-are-making.(copy and paste url) Bruce Warila essentially says you CAN succeed without being deeply committed to social media sites if you know how to play to your audience. If you can peak an interest in your fans ….wait…..Lets start from the beginning. I have no fans. I have no product that is worthwhile. If I have a way to make a product that people will like (= LOTS OF HARD WORK), if they see/hear it at a trade show, concert, etc., I only need a few things to happen. One or two people who like it can and probably will post something on THEIR social media site. If I have something people want to see, they will tell their friends, and their friends will show up. If I have people show up, guess what… we look cooler… and cool is and always will be ‘In’. Suddenly, someone posts a video of us performing…YouTube…check. Every time someone likes that video or post that a fan put up, we gain credibility (I heard all about this last night at a conference and will touch briefly on it later) as well as coolness. Remember? Always in. Now we have a brand, a product, and guess what, we didn’t have a website, a YouTube, a twitter, a Facebook, a MySpace, a reverbnation, a Flickr, or any other of the thousands of sites out there. Do I recommend this? No! Why not? Because making a product into ‘Gold’ is a slow process WITH those things. Imagine not having them. But… *Whew…sigh of relief* Can I just say it? I HATE social media! I have felt it’s a necessary evil! And yet, here I am, writing a blog… about social media… saying I hate it…and referencing websites, Facebook’s, twitters, etc. So, CAN it be done? Yes. But I don’t recommend it. Besides, if you think about it, WE may not have a webpage or those other sites in this story, but we are still using them through other people. I mean, before Newspapers, radio, and TV, (the ORIGINAL social medias) there were NO megabands, or were there? I mean, without some sort of circulation, how would there be? I would LOVE to hear some input about this if anyone knows anything about it. I googled it but couldn’t find any info.
It seems to me that we as earth (ha ha) are breeding a new sort of artist. An artist with an ego larger than life. To have access to people in other states, countries, MAYBE planets lol, seems quite the accomplishment. No wonder so many crash and burn and become total monsters! Suddenly we have access to EVERYTHING at the snap of a finger. This brings me to the next point. http://music-promotion-blog.blogspot.com/2010/06/do-you-use-marketing-match-or.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MusicPromotionBlog+%28Bob+Baker%27s+Indie+Music+Promotion+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
We are in the flamethrower age. We are all throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks when in fact we should be nicely wrapping that shit in a box and tossing it to a few people here and there…wait lol. Read this article for realzies! I just don’t know how to better paraphrase it and it’s short.
The last thing I am going to talk about is credibility. Someone brought this up at a social media conference last night and I apologize for anything that may be misconstrued or taken as a bash. I am not going for that. See, what is ok for one person may not be ok for another. When building your credibility, you are deciding what you will put up with, what you will be known for, how reliable you are, if your fans, friends, and tweeps can trust you. (Why don’t Facebook fans have a cool name? Like, Friendbookers or Facebros/Facebitches? I like the latter.) Don’t fall prey to those companies that tweet for you, that message people for your, that take over your whole social media persona for you, and I’m sorry, but autoreplies are just as bad to me. Now, a great point was made. If you are honest and tell your fans etc. that you’re busy and keep them engaged and let them know what you’re doing that you can’t reply to everyone then you don’t have to worry about that. But ALSO, if you don’t follow someone on twitter, they can’t direct message you so DON’T follow EVERYONE on twitter. Simple.
To come full circle, we are in a mirage of a simpler time. With access to anything we need, we forget that bands played, toured, performed, and made a living BEFORE these sites. Don’t get me wrong. I know people who I believe will be very successful either at these sites or because of them, but successful none the less. But there is such a strong focus on these sites that we forget that we just need a great product. What does that say about Ty and me? We need to work harder to have a better product. We need to be more engaging, more exciting, and more fun. If you’re not a successful musician (remember? What is ‘Gold’ to you?) So do you. How? That’s only something YOU can decide. We are all in a creative right brain business. Don’t limit yourself to music. It can be done. Will it?

If you want to be successful, surround yourself with promising and already successful people.

When I sold vacuumes door-to-door (swear to God it's true) I learned a lot. There are a few statements and sayings that have forever stuck with me. To quote a few, practice doesn't make perfect, "Practice makes improvement". Some people may not like this half empty approach, but I think it has a realizm that is important in certain situations. "The fear of loss is greater than the hope of gain." This quote is particularly interesteing to me because if you think about it and open your eyes, you can see that mostly that's true. People are more afraid to lose something they feel is important than almost anything else. "Dream Big. It's free." Nuff said right? And finally, "If you want to be successful, surround yourself with promising and already successful people." This one is invaluable.
Long ago, we realized that you can have 1,000,000 acquaintences, but if only 2 of them know YOU, you may as well have 2 acquaintences. BUT. If you have 3 real friends, you have 3 real friends. Ty and I have made it super important in our quest for the life of music to surround ourselves with people we truly enjoy, like, and have a respect for with only one ulterior motive. To really truly be friends with those people. This brings me to my next quote. I heard it on the radio one day. "Be nice to people on your way up because you'll need them on your way back down." -Winston Churchill. We have decided to base our careers on this quote.
We have been so privelaged to be associated with some of the greatest fans, musicians, and venues probably known to man that it's easy to live this way. Sometimes new friends come along and that is just fine. Sometimes we get an email from a 'Fran' (I just came up with that because our fans are our friends. I dub thee, Fran) telling us how much they love our music, or thanking us for free tickets to shows. These emails are beautiful. Never stop! It means so much to us to have people like what we love to do. I think a lot of people don't understand artistic endeavors. We work with some supportive people, but I think a lot of them think its rediculous. We get asked silly questions a lot in jest toward us.We hear this more than we hear "I love your music". I remember as a kid getting teased for singing. Even some family (not immediate) telling me I couldn't do it... Well... Guess what. We're doing it! lol Now some of those people have since found me on facebook and tell me they enjoy our music. And the ones I REALLY love are the people I was once friends with who WERE supportive of me finding us on facebook and online and saying they still love us :D *warm and fuzzy*. Then, we come play a show and we play a new song that we're not sure about, and you love it, or we are just really feeling it and it feels GREAT. And then a Fran (lol I'm a genius), new or old tells us they love it. All of a sudden all is right with the world.
As we get more involved with the community, new people turn up everyday and its really exciting to meet them. We think of most of you as famous in our eyes because we get to do some bad ass things! :D
A good example of this is The Utah Musicians Breakfast Club which was started after Eric Openshaw suggested a monthly meting with musicians at breakfast. GENIUS! Eric, Us, Taryn, and Candice started building a community of musicians on Facebook that brought us together at places we all choose. We meet once a month and talk about music, our plans, shows coming up, what we've been working on, and share ideas and sometimes join in on the events. This is exciting because we are all facebook friends but sometimes you miss those opportunities or you can hear more details in person. Some great shows and collaborations have come from these things.
It's exciting to be accepted in this group of truly great people, Kole, John, MIke, Taryn, Rick, The Local Landing guys, Eric, I can't even name them all,(sorry) and get to hear their ideas, the things they feel deeply for and get the chance to join in on these endeavors and help them get it out to all our friends to help build it. This community of music is something surreal. No idea is a bad idea. No one is turned away (unless you're someone ex-boyfriend stalking them or something like that. Then you have to leave. lol) Everyone is trying to be a part of a movement that I know deep down will be remembered even if only by us. We truly believe that the people we are meeting every day are so amazingly talented and smart that many of them are going to find a way to do what they love. To even just watch that is so cool :)
We just are excited to see where our lives go, what we accomplish and what we have to give up on, and whats more, the people we are still truly dear friends with 20 years from now. We love you all in a totally non perverted or innappropriate way. (except maybe Kole. Its totally innappropriate and perverted lol jk)