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!
7/28/2010
7/14/2010
No blog this week....
Just wanted to see if you'd read it ha ha. Any ideas for future blog subjects?:D
7/07/2010
“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?
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?
6/13/2010
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)
6/07/2010
I'm a festival? No YOUR a festival!
So what exactly does it take to try and host a music festival? Is it a venue, some artists, and some promotion? Sure, but it's also a commitment to spending a lot of damn time in front of a computer doing everything from listening to the artists that have submitted material, to designing logos & fliers. Here's a little insight into the Acoustic All-Stars from our eyes . . .
First off let's give you a little background about how the Acoustic All-Stars came to be. In 2008 Melody and I had just started getting really serious about performing out as often as possible, so we were very busy playing show after show. We were sitting in Liquid Joes on a local music Wednesday night just after playing our set, and we were listening to one of the acts that was performing after us. Melody leans over to me and says "there needs to be a venue or event that helps showcase all the great acoustic talent here in Utah". And thus, the seed was planted.
We spent the next month or so brainstorming different ideas on how we could get involved in such an event. Finally Melody comes up to me one night and says "what if we do a festival type show that promotes artists coming together, sharing fans, and building a stronger all around music scene?" Brilliant! Oh, and let me just stop here and say that when it comes to amazing ideas, Mel is FULL of them!
So we had the idea, now it was time to find the venue. We already knew that we wanted to have more than one show that stretched over more than one day. We were looking for a place that would allow us to book out a weekend, and on top of that, a place that would allow us to book a weekend of JUST acoustic music. With that in mind, we started out search. We contacted a few different places, but nothing was panning out quite as we had hoped. We were talking to owners, manager, friends, basically anyone we knew that might be able to help us out. Finally our answer came one night in Park City just after we had played a show at a new venue. We talked to the manager/booking agent and he really like the idea, so we were off and running!
One of the hardest parts about booking a "festival" type show, is finding all of the musicians to play, and trying to coordinate them. We started spreading the word that we were doing a 3 night show and we needed musicians. Still being fairly new to the SLC music scene, it was a bit difficult finding the acts. We were asking everyone we knew, from long time friends, to newly found musicians we had met just a few weeks back. Everything was panning out beautifully, until . . .
We got an email that read something like this, "we are sorry to have to do this, but we have to cancel your acoustic shows due to a change in ownership. they are changing owners and they want us to cancel all of our upcoming shows." We had been planning this for about a month so far, and with just about 2 months to go, we had no venue. Back to the drawing board.
Now I'm a believer that all things happen for a reason, and there was most certainly a reason for this, but we just didn't know it yet. During all of this planning and having the venue cancel on us, we were still playing shows and working on our own music. Alas, here steps in The Star Bar!
We were playing a show in Park City at The Star Bar and as we're sitting there, we started talking about the possibility of hosting it there. We played our set, and it was a bit of a slower night so we took the opportunity to sit down and talk with Danny, the manager. We explained to him the idea we had for the show and almost instantly he said "we'd love to be involved!".
We were back in business!
So to save some time we'll just skim over the weeks leading up to the 1st official Acoustic All-Stars Festival. We found all of our musicians, some by asking, and some that found out about the show and asked us if they could be a part of it. The show was a success, the first night was amazing, we had numerous friends come hang out and support the show, and all of the music was spectacular. This was exactly what we had envisioned!
Year 2 was more organized seeing as you get better the more you do something, and you learn from your rookie mistakes. We had musicians applying that we had never heard of (which is awesome because it means that the festival was spreading), we understood marketing a little better, and we felt more confident about ourselves as "event organizers". By way of a couple well timed emails & phone calls, we had landed a spot as the cover story on one of slc's weekly magazine IN.
Now it's the 3rd year of the show and this is what we've learned so far. #1 - there's always going to be at least 1 artist that is "a bit difficult". #2 - There's always going to be some sort of snag that will make us think that nothing will work out, but eventually it becomes not nearly as bad as it originally seemed. #3 - Coordinating musicians, the venue, sponsors, tv spots, marketing, advertising, and promoting . . . can be a BITCH! And last but not least #4 - Meeting all of these talented musicians has been worth it's weight in gold!
One of the main challenges for us has been advertising. In the first 2 years Mel and I came out of pocket on everything we did for the shows, but at this point it has grown enough that we can no longer do that, forcing us to seek sponsorships. Asking people for money is one of the hardest things to do, now I know that they guy that stands on the corner just off of the freeway ramp just had to find a marker, some cardboard, and stand there. But this is a little different.
We've had to search out companies that have vested interest in our festival, companies that want to invest in what we're doing, and companies that want to be involved. It's tough, but we've got some fantastic people on board so far... Park City TV has been with us from year 1, they allow us to promote by having artists on their Mountain Views Show and inviting us on for Acoustic All-Stars week at their station... The Local Landing just came on board and they are ALL ABOUT promoting local events and spreading the word to all of their followers... Park City Lodging has given us an amazing offer on hotel rooms. Stay 2 nights and your 2nd night is HALF OFF, stay 3 nights and the 3rd night is FREE! Now that's what I call awesome... and of course The Star Bar. This whole thing would have been possible without Danny giving us the chance to prove ourselves as promoters and music lovers. From the very first they have allowed us to basically do what we want in booking the shows. They provide us with an amazing venue that is complete with a killer atmosphere. Amazing sound system, sound engineer provided, extra friendly staff, and great great drink specials! Oh, and for those of you who don't know much about The Star Bar and it's history. The Star Bar hosted the ASCAP Music Cafe during Sundance each year from 1999-2008 and here is a small list of just some of the people who have performed on this stage (we'd list them all but there are FAR too many to list), deep breath and here we go . . . .
Silversun Pickups
Neil Young
Graham Nash
Ingrid Michaelson
Pat Monahan of Train
Brett Dennon
Emserson Hart
Martin Sexton
Glan Hansard and Marketa Irglova
Jonatha Brooke
Tim Easton
Jonny Lang
Damien Rice
Emmylou Harris
Jason Mraz
Josh Ritter
Kings of Leon
Joseph Arthur w/ Ben Harper
Joseph Arthur w/ Peter Gabriel
The Dresden Dolls
Imogen Heap
Joe Purdy
Bruce Hornsby
Shawn Colvin
Ben Kweller
The All-American Rejects
Michael McDonald
Linda Perry
Deana Carter
Guy Clark
Jon Mclaughlin
and that's just the start of it. So you can see why we LOVE The Star Bar and having our event at this wonder venue. The musical history of the place alone is worth bragging about.
The Acoustic All-Stars is our heart, our soul, and our passion of trying to bring attention to some of the many talented musicians that Utah has to offer, we hope you enjoy what we're doing!
5/19/2010
Building Something from Awesome...
Long long ago, in a city not so far away, I decided I hated work. Work is the worst thing even invented and farming and trading goods was still not all that great. I wonder to myself, 'Why can't I be something awesome, like a mattress tester, or a video game tester, or some other kind of tester that was fun and relaxing?' But alas, No such job has ever been made available to me. What is surprising is that you need a degree to make $ testing video games and there are NO people who go into work and make their living taking naps on new mattresses....are there? I know most people hate their jobs, so I say, if you hate it and there's something you love to do, figure out how to make money doing it. You can! But HOW?
This is the journey we have yet to take.
We have been fortunate in the press we have gotten, and even some of the places we've played and people we've opened for but still when we call to book and places we have played several times, even THEY don't even know who we are lol. We have learned so much in this world of music, and yet, we are soooooooo new to this.
I have learned about the ways of music from an embarrassing amount of TV and radio. Music videos we're my radio and they were always on. My dad played old 8 tracks with old old old music on them and I realized from "May the Bird of Paradise Fly up your Nose" (real song, look it up) you can be a silly songwriter. I tried that as a kid and it was not the fit for me. I have learned that some of the more experienced musicians are the biggest a-holes and some of the less experienced are the greatest people you could ever meet. But growing a business is its own learning experience entirely. Because that's what this is. A business. I wouldn't mind if we could perform for a living and make close to what we make now at the full time jobs we love so dearly. That shouldn't be TOO hard. But there's so much to it and you have to take it seriously. Theres research, pictures, new songs, legal issues to understand or know someone who does that can help you, taxes, your image, social media, and so much more than I even imagined.
In an effort to bring a community together as well as build some worth for our business, Ty and I founded an acoustic music festival called The Acoustic All-Stars (http://www.acoustic-allstars.com) about 3 years ago. The first 2 years were spent working out kinks, which will inevidably continue, but now its growing more. If we can't advertise, it will not grow, and eventually die. This is a huge task because I have never done anything like asking for sponsors before and quite honestly its scary as hell. But, knowing that if we can't make a business out of music, I'll sit behind my desk for the rest of my life, we HAVE to succeed. This is all part of our plan to take over the music universe......or at least a small corner of it.
I have heard numerous interviews with actors, singer, writers, all these "you'll never make it" type industries, and so many have said 'I wasn't successful until I risked it all and did this full time. Then I had nothing else to fall back on I had NO choice and HAD to make it.'
The biggest problem we have is that everything we do is twice as expensive. I can't quit my job and tour with out him, and vise versa. If we tour, it costs us twice what it costs our solo friends. Food, gas, everything. Most people have one of 3 situations. 1: They're solo or in a band, but their spouse, significant other, parents work and cover extra expenses. 2: Their job pays well and they're financially fit now so they can work AND tour as much as they want, or 3: They are already successful musicians making their living that way.
So we have started saving money to pay off all debts, and working on a business model, which I had heard of before but when told we should do it, I thought...'How have we NOT done that!?' (Thanks http://www.Gregdowns.com)So now, to learn what a business model is. lol
If anyone has some suggestions, we'll take them :D
We need to learn how to monetize this bitch. lol It is time!
We also have to realize that management in the music industry isn't what it used to be. Now everything is DIY. Getting a big record contract isn't the dream most of us have anymore because we can loose our creative freedom, and a huge chunk of hard earned money to the company/label taking good care of us. Besides, a lot of labels sign you and then say, ok keep doing what you're doing, good luck, we may drop you.
Here's what Im reaching at. If I could travel the world singing and writing songs and meeting the awesome people we get to meet at shows, I wouldn't work another day in my life. Its not work to me. I have only ever played a show one or two times that felt like I was going to a job. Its the thing that I was born to do. Its what makes me breathe. (Id add eat but thats not why. I love food!)
Let me tell you how it feels. Its like the best drug ever that makes you feel like you're in the right place, and is almost orgasmic but in the purest form. Its zen and its beautiful. This is all really deep........
This is the journey we have yet to take.
We have been fortunate in the press we have gotten, and even some of the places we've played and people we've opened for but still when we call to book and places we have played several times, even THEY don't even know who we are lol. We have learned so much in this world of music, and yet, we are soooooooo new to this.
I have learned about the ways of music from an embarrassing amount of TV and radio. Music videos we're my radio and they were always on. My dad played old 8 tracks with old old old music on them and I realized from "May the Bird of Paradise Fly up your Nose" (real song, look it up) you can be a silly songwriter. I tried that as a kid and it was not the fit for me. I have learned that some of the more experienced musicians are the biggest a-holes and some of the less experienced are the greatest people you could ever meet. But growing a business is its own learning experience entirely. Because that's what this is. A business. I wouldn't mind if we could perform for a living and make close to what we make now at the full time jobs we love so dearly. That shouldn't be TOO hard. But there's so much to it and you have to take it seriously. Theres research, pictures, new songs, legal issues to understand or know someone who does that can help you, taxes, your image, social media, and so much more than I even imagined.
In an effort to bring a community together as well as build some worth for our business, Ty and I founded an acoustic music festival called The Acoustic All-Stars (http://www.acoustic-allstars.com) about 3 years ago. The first 2 years were spent working out kinks, which will inevidably continue, but now its growing more. If we can't advertise, it will not grow, and eventually die. This is a huge task because I have never done anything like asking for sponsors before and quite honestly its scary as hell. But, knowing that if we can't make a business out of music, I'll sit behind my desk for the rest of my life, we HAVE to succeed. This is all part of our plan to take over the music universe......or at least a small corner of it.
I have heard numerous interviews with actors, singer, writers, all these "you'll never make it" type industries, and so many have said 'I wasn't successful until I risked it all and did this full time. Then I had nothing else to fall back on I had NO choice and HAD to make it.'
The biggest problem we have is that everything we do is twice as expensive. I can't quit my job and tour with out him, and vise versa. If we tour, it costs us twice what it costs our solo friends. Food, gas, everything. Most people have one of 3 situations. 1: They're solo or in a band, but their spouse, significant other, parents work and cover extra expenses. 2: Their job pays well and they're financially fit now so they can work AND tour as much as they want, or 3: They are already successful musicians making their living that way.
So we have started saving money to pay off all debts, and working on a business model, which I had heard of before but when told we should do it, I thought...'How have we NOT done that!?' (Thanks http://www.Gregdowns.com)So now, to learn what a business model is. lol
If anyone has some suggestions, we'll take them :D
We need to learn how to monetize this bitch. lol It is time!
We also have to realize that management in the music industry isn't what it used to be. Now everything is DIY. Getting a big record contract isn't the dream most of us have anymore because we can loose our creative freedom, and a huge chunk of hard earned money to the company/label taking good care of us. Besides, a lot of labels sign you and then say, ok keep doing what you're doing, good luck, we may drop you.
Here's what Im reaching at. If I could travel the world singing and writing songs and meeting the awesome people we get to meet at shows, I wouldn't work another day in my life. Its not work to me. I have only ever played a show one or two times that felt like I was going to a job. Its the thing that I was born to do. Its what makes me breathe. (Id add eat but thats not why. I love food!)
Let me tell you how it feels. Its like the best drug ever that makes you feel like you're in the right place, and is almost orgasmic but in the purest form. Its zen and its beautiful. This is all really deep........
5/09/2010
The Operating Room Looked Nothing Like ‘Grays Anatomy’
Blog
“The Operating Room Looked Nothing Like ‘Grays Anatomy’”
My damn veins were NOT cooperating while I was laying there in the operating room and the anesthesiologist tried to get an IV in me. I told him they roll on my wrists but naturally a man who has done this countless times felt he knew best and kept trying. Luckily he shot me with some kind of numbing agent so I didn’t care. (When I woke, I had an IV in my hand.)
A few months ago I found out I had a large uterine fibroid which was causing a lot of discomfort and needed to be removed. Fibroids are not life threatening, though some times they grow to ridiculous sizes. One of the heavier reported fibroids in history was over 25 lbs. I am definitely not the worst scenario. Mine was however the size of a small football, which was larger than the originally thought large grapefruit and we figured weighed about 1.5 lbs. You couldn’t ask to lose a pound and a half any faster.
I realized in January this year that something was not right. I started noticing a large bump in my pelvis area and it would swell a few days a month and then be almost invisible except when I was laying down. Ty and I were on our way to Denver and, though usually I am a great traveller, I kept making him stop at the rest stops. I just couldn’t hold it like I used to. I was waiting to get in to see a new OB to see what the problem was and finally got to see her in March. She knew what it was as soon as she saw and she looked pretty surprised at the size. She told me that if it didn’t cause any problems I could leave it in as long as I wanted but it was getting to a point of serious discomfort and was beginning to affect my every day life so I had to bite the bullet.
I avoided the oh so frustrating and attention asking Facebook posts about it and told people that I figured would notice my social absence in email, text etc and pretty much kept it hush hush. I think of Facebook as a ‘spread the word’ media and this wasn’t a ‘spread the word’ situation. But then as I lay in the hospital I decided that blogging about it would be a different story. First, its post surgery, asking for no sympathy, worry, or ‘its gonna be ok’s; Second, Blogs don’t have the need for comment the way Facebook does which is my first hang up. I want to talk about my experience for those who have been or may go through this to help and don’t want to ask for attention and do so in more than the 40 characters allotted; Third, I have about 400 friends on Facebook, 350 of which I rarely hear from or speak to, and 30 of whom probably don’t read this blog. (No offense, or discredit to anyone but if you’re on Facebook, you know how it goes). Last but not least, my personal struggle is so small compared to perfect strangers and recent family members who have been diagnosed with far worse. I need not ask for prayers and help when so many people need it more. (Ty’s cousin recently found out his body is riddled with cancer. It seems hardly fair to worry about me when he and his family need help that I don’t require)
*Now that I’m done with that rant*
I was a little nervous about the surgery. After all, I’ve never so much as broken a bone. (Call me what you will but I am not a prissy girl…..just safe) It took some good friends to point out that I was in a depressive funk and had to get back to me. After playing a very down and deep set at our favorite bar, I went home and cried one night. I felt better after that. Aah, how therapeutic a good cry can be, and yet seen as weakness. Interesting.
I went in for my pre-op and listened to all the horrible things that could happen with rare chance, and some of them were actually laughable. “On rare occasions, while removing the fibroid, due to its close proximity to your bowels, a small incision can occur causing bowel leakage into your uterus and infection. In this case a specialist will be called in to fix this and you will be closely monitored.’ I laughed and said to my OB ‘So, you’re saying I could literally shit my own uterus? How would you list that in my obituary?’ She laughed. (In these cases I wonder why an extra procedure would not be covered by the hospital. If you order a meal that is made improperly, does the restaurant not refund the price? Just a thought here people)
Sadly, there are risks as with any surgery. If there is too much blood flow to the fibroid (which we were 99% sure there was a LOT) I could bleed out and if the complications were too much, they would have to give me a hysterectomy or I could even die. This was one of my biggest worries.
5/4/10 Day of Surgery
My sister Kristianna, having previously teased me about my awesome situation, referenced ‘Alien’ saying that my fibroid was actually an alien getting ready to burst out of my belly at any moment, and changed the procedure name from a myomectomy or something like that, to an alien-infant-ectomy. I showed to the hospital and checked in. Kristi, Ty, and my dad were with me. They took me in back to put on the super sexy robe and pee in a cup and then asked me questions that seem silly to ask a pre op patient of any sort. ‘What is your desired outcome?’ ‘To live’ I said ‘How can we make sure to reach your desired outcome’ ‘I’m alive after surgery’ I said. (These are REALLY the questions and answers given)
The anesthesiologist came in and was ready to go even though I hadn’t given blood or been given my IV tube so they put me in a bed, I said goodbye to Ty and they took me off. After prep questions making sure I understood the procedure, they took me in the room. I lay there thinking ‘This looks nothing like ‘Grays Anatomy’ and soon fell asleep. I was somewhat conscious to hear the nurse in recovery talking to another nurse and saying I lost a lot of blood and saying how pale I was. I woke again as I was wheeled into my room because I heard Ty’s voice. It made me conscious and I wanted to hold his hand but couldn’t really move. The next 3 days were groggy. I had a morphine pump that I used as little as I could because I wanted to make sure I could handle it if I didn’t get meds when I needed, (which later proved to be the best idea I’d had because my nurses never brought my meds on time and I would have to page them to ask for them). I also had a catheter that didn’t drain properly so I always had a full bladder until they drained it, and was given 2 bags of blood the first night. (my joke referenced Sesame Street’s Count saying ‘1 bag of blood wa ah ah, 2 bags of blood wa ah ah…’) Thank God for the following: Kristi or Ty staying with me, my wonderful visitors, and my CNA Ian, who made me walk when I didn’t want to and just get the hell out of bed because I needed someone to knowingly nudge me and make me get better. I came home Thursday afternoon and slept. I realized my bed was higher than the hospitals and had some trouble getting in and out for the first day, but soon figured out the trick. Family brought food and visited, and I figured out how to wash my hair in the sink and brush my teeth using a Dixie cup to spit. Ty helped me take a wanna be bath today and let me just say WHAT a difference! It really is the little things in life that you forget are so wonderful, like showering, sitting outside in the sun, walking, breathing, and just being totally independent. Even now I sit here writing filled with oxycodone and prescription strength Ibuprofen with an ice pack on my wound wishing I could just have a good stretch. (forgive any scatterbrained thoughts)
I have realized with all the personal and embarrassing things happening through all this how important it is to have close friends and family who love you no mater what. I lay here in a night gown that is far to large for me for the purpose of movement, wearing knit underwear that the hospital gave me (and let me just say it is some SEXY underwear), unable to fully shower, waking Ty up at all hours of the night with needs like ice in my ice pack, and the tums from the car, as well as some extremely personal and unmentionable circumstances that are only for the closest of close friends, and I am thankful that the people I surround myself with are truly my friends. People that love me and worry for me and bring me flowers and food and stuffed animals and I am so glad that I didn’t shit my uterus and die.
“The Operating Room Looked Nothing Like ‘Grays Anatomy’”
My damn veins were NOT cooperating while I was laying there in the operating room and the anesthesiologist tried to get an IV in me. I told him they roll on my wrists but naturally a man who has done this countless times felt he knew best and kept trying. Luckily he shot me with some kind of numbing agent so I didn’t care. (When I woke, I had an IV in my hand.)
A few months ago I found out I had a large uterine fibroid which was causing a lot of discomfort and needed to be removed. Fibroids are not life threatening, though some times they grow to ridiculous sizes. One of the heavier reported fibroids in history was over 25 lbs. I am definitely not the worst scenario. Mine was however the size of a small football, which was larger than the originally thought large grapefruit and we figured weighed about 1.5 lbs. You couldn’t ask to lose a pound and a half any faster.
I realized in January this year that something was not right. I started noticing a large bump in my pelvis area and it would swell a few days a month and then be almost invisible except when I was laying down. Ty and I were on our way to Denver and, though usually I am a great traveller, I kept making him stop at the rest stops. I just couldn’t hold it like I used to. I was waiting to get in to see a new OB to see what the problem was and finally got to see her in March. She knew what it was as soon as she saw and she looked pretty surprised at the size. She told me that if it didn’t cause any problems I could leave it in as long as I wanted but it was getting to a point of serious discomfort and was beginning to affect my every day life so I had to bite the bullet.
I avoided the oh so frustrating and attention asking Facebook posts about it and told people that I figured would notice my social absence in email, text etc and pretty much kept it hush hush. I think of Facebook as a ‘spread the word’ media and this wasn’t a ‘spread the word’ situation. But then as I lay in the hospital I decided that blogging about it would be a different story. First, its post surgery, asking for no sympathy, worry, or ‘its gonna be ok’s; Second, Blogs don’t have the need for comment the way Facebook does which is my first hang up. I want to talk about my experience for those who have been or may go through this to help and don’t want to ask for attention and do so in more than the 40 characters allotted; Third, I have about 400 friends on Facebook, 350 of which I rarely hear from or speak to, and 30 of whom probably don’t read this blog. (No offense, or discredit to anyone but if you’re on Facebook, you know how it goes). Last but not least, my personal struggle is so small compared to perfect strangers and recent family members who have been diagnosed with far worse. I need not ask for prayers and help when so many people need it more. (Ty’s cousin recently found out his body is riddled with cancer. It seems hardly fair to worry about me when he and his family need help that I don’t require)
*Now that I’m done with that rant*
I was a little nervous about the surgery. After all, I’ve never so much as broken a bone. (Call me what you will but I am not a prissy girl…..just safe) It took some good friends to point out that I was in a depressive funk and had to get back to me. After playing a very down and deep set at our favorite bar, I went home and cried one night. I felt better after that. Aah, how therapeutic a good cry can be, and yet seen as weakness. Interesting.
I went in for my pre-op and listened to all the horrible things that could happen with rare chance, and some of them were actually laughable. “On rare occasions, while removing the fibroid, due to its close proximity to your bowels, a small incision can occur causing bowel leakage into your uterus and infection. In this case a specialist will be called in to fix this and you will be closely monitored.’ I laughed and said to my OB ‘So, you’re saying I could literally shit my own uterus? How would you list that in my obituary?’ She laughed. (In these cases I wonder why an extra procedure would not be covered by the hospital. If you order a meal that is made improperly, does the restaurant not refund the price? Just a thought here people)
Sadly, there are risks as with any surgery. If there is too much blood flow to the fibroid (which we were 99% sure there was a LOT) I could bleed out and if the complications were too much, they would have to give me a hysterectomy or I could even die. This was one of my biggest worries.
5/4/10 Day of Surgery
My sister Kristianna, having previously teased me about my awesome situation, referenced ‘Alien’ saying that my fibroid was actually an alien getting ready to burst out of my belly at any moment, and changed the procedure name from a myomectomy or something like that, to an alien-infant-ectomy. I showed to the hospital and checked in. Kristi, Ty, and my dad were with me. They took me in back to put on the super sexy robe and pee in a cup and then asked me questions that seem silly to ask a pre op patient of any sort. ‘What is your desired outcome?’ ‘To live’ I said ‘How can we make sure to reach your desired outcome’ ‘I’m alive after surgery’ I said. (These are REALLY the questions and answers given)
The anesthesiologist came in and was ready to go even though I hadn’t given blood or been given my IV tube so they put me in a bed, I said goodbye to Ty and they took me off. After prep questions making sure I understood the procedure, they took me in the room. I lay there thinking ‘This looks nothing like ‘Grays Anatomy’ and soon fell asleep. I was somewhat conscious to hear the nurse in recovery talking to another nurse and saying I lost a lot of blood and saying how pale I was. I woke again as I was wheeled into my room because I heard Ty’s voice. It made me conscious and I wanted to hold his hand but couldn’t really move. The next 3 days were groggy. I had a morphine pump that I used as little as I could because I wanted to make sure I could handle it if I didn’t get meds when I needed, (which later proved to be the best idea I’d had because my nurses never brought my meds on time and I would have to page them to ask for them). I also had a catheter that didn’t drain properly so I always had a full bladder until they drained it, and was given 2 bags of blood the first night. (my joke referenced Sesame Street’s Count saying ‘1 bag of blood wa ah ah, 2 bags of blood wa ah ah…’) Thank God for the following: Kristi or Ty staying with me, my wonderful visitors, and my CNA Ian, who made me walk when I didn’t want to and just get the hell out of bed because I needed someone to knowingly nudge me and make me get better. I came home Thursday afternoon and slept. I realized my bed was higher than the hospitals and had some trouble getting in and out for the first day, but soon figured out the trick. Family brought food and visited, and I figured out how to wash my hair in the sink and brush my teeth using a Dixie cup to spit. Ty helped me take a wanna be bath today and let me just say WHAT a difference! It really is the little things in life that you forget are so wonderful, like showering, sitting outside in the sun, walking, breathing, and just being totally independent. Even now I sit here writing filled with oxycodone and prescription strength Ibuprofen with an ice pack on my wound wishing I could just have a good stretch. (forgive any scatterbrained thoughts)
I have realized with all the personal and embarrassing things happening through all this how important it is to have close friends and family who love you no mater what. I lay here in a night gown that is far to large for me for the purpose of movement, wearing knit underwear that the hospital gave me (and let me just say it is some SEXY underwear), unable to fully shower, waking Ty up at all hours of the night with needs like ice in my ice pack, and the tums from the car, as well as some extremely personal and unmentionable circumstances that are only for the closest of close friends, and I am thankful that the people I surround myself with are truly my friends. People that love me and worry for me and bring me flowers and food and stuffed animals and I am so glad that I didn’t shit my uterus and die.
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