Greetings from Shelburne Falls MA!
Gerry and I just finished an acoustic set at our favorite place in "The Falls," Mocha Maya's. I've said it once and I'll say it again - this is how a live music venue should be run. They treat the artists with respect and actually do this thing called "promoting." Where as some venues just book the band and leave it to chance, the fine people at Mocha Maya's actually work to make the night a success. Kind of an anomaly in this business, but a welcome one nonetheless.
Anywho... Watching Chris Cubeta & The Liars Club. Cool band. Never saw them before. Really enjoying them. I think they fit well with us. Kinda alternative, kinda inspired by Wilco, perhaps Son Volt, maybe even Counting Crows. Anyway, I'm enjoying them. Check them out if you can. They're from Brooklyn NY.
I meant to write a blog yesterday, as I'm shooting for every Friday now. I'm gonna do my damnedest to make that work.
Got a little further with the record last week. Gerry came in and did some smashing guitar work. Emphasize "smashing" in British accent because it was "SMASHING!" I'm really psyched to get this new record out. It's been really inspiring times this past year. Big changes with friends, family, love, band... I think it's all going to be in there. Even more, once again the boys in the band have proved to be the fine musicians they are, as I had a clear vision for some of the songs that we already laid down and have completely stepped up to the plate and tore them up. Spending time in the studio with Gerry last week was a pleasure. I think it's some of the finest guitar work I've heard him lay down since we started playing together 5 years ago... or however long it's been.
As a testament to making music with some of the finest people ever... G-man, a.k.a. Dicky Burns, a.k.a. Gerry - and myself finished up three songs last night. Untitled as of yet, but I'm proud to say that they're gonna rock a bit more than before. Be prepared. I warned you. :-)
Playing a couple more full band shows for the summer then we're curling up with a nice book in the studio. Really going to concentrate on making a killer record for the fall. Let's just call it an obsession. But back to the upcoming shows, one tomorrow at a benefit, then one more on Thursday at Daniel Street in Milford CT. If you can make it out... no, you BETTER make it out Thursday to Daniel Street! It's our last full-band show for the next 4-5 months. And as an added benefit, we're playing with our friends The Mercury Seed. They rock. It's gonna be a night of rock & roll bliss.
Well that's all for now. Gonna run back to the show.
Gerry says hello!
Peace, love, rock & roll...
-SA
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Hello! I'm back from... well... I never really went anywhere. I've always been here, but not here. I don't know if that makes any sense necessarily, so I'll just leave it up to your interpretation.
Mostly, I've been focused on school and trying to make some money these past few months. I'm happy to report that paying attention to my collegiate career has paid off, as I once again scored a series of straight A's this past Spring semester, and am proudly upholding a 3.96 GPA. Only one more year to go and then out into the world of the worst economic condition in years. But alas... I've always been one to turn lemons into lemonade, and am already devising a most awesome plan to navigate these rough economic waters, even already implementing them.
On the money front (and this is where the blog title of 'Making some changes' comes in), I've just been trying to be smart, make good moves, using good judgment. Running a band is an expensive venture. I'm not complaining, but it's just not always easy. We put out a CD (Where You Come From) right on the verge of an economic meltdown and at a time when CDs just are not selling like they used to (some believe that music should be free - I disagree). But specifically on the topic of this blog, I decided to pull down my music off of MySpace. Perhaps MySpace will kick me off for saying the following (and quite frankly, don't care if they do), but I believe that MySpace makes a lot of money off of people providing content. Whether it's a band, a comedian, a movie maker, or even a regular user, all provide content making MySpace a destination for many. If you'll notice, YOU are bombarded with ads when you get here. My logic is this: You provide content. MySpace sells ads. MySpace makes a ton of money off of these ad sales, because MySpace is a destination due to uploaded content. Artists like myself don't receive any money for our content, even though it's used as a catalyst to slap an ad over. I think that's wrong.
In todays music industry, the old business model is DEAD. It's so dead it's turned into oil. Understand, music artists today have a difficult time just breaking even. One wonderful invention to help artists maintain a viable business has been the internet. Nowadays, there are websites dedicated to delivering great content that share their ad revenues with those that provide the content. I think that's the right thing to do. While I use a site that does such a thing, I'm certainly not getting rich off it. Hell, I couldn't even buy gas with that money. But the principle is something I greatly admire. It's something MySpace has never even attempted to do.
Therefore, I've removed my songs from MySpace. Now, there is a widget from ReverbNation (I encourage you to go there) that has replaced the MySpace music player. So, yes, there is still music on MySpace, but it's coming from ReverbNation. It may sound confusing, I know. It's like selling my own gourmet pizza in a Domino's pizza store, if that analogy helps.
In other news...
I'd like to give a great big welcome to Antonio's brother Gerard as the new bass player for the band. Gerard, like his brother, brings a lot of experience, professionalism, and talent to the group. He's a welcome addition to the family and we're all glad to have him aboard. That means that Fred is now free to use both hands and work his magic on the Rhodes. Sometimes 2 are better than 1!
We began recording in April and are intermittently returning to the studio, slowly finishing up the next record to release it in the fall. I don't really have too much info, other than we've finish basic tracking for "I Can't Wait To Let You Down," "Seventy Letters," "The Last One," "Not Sad To See You Leave," and "Vermont." You might recognize these titles from the Everything Is Something Else acoustic EP, and you'd be right. I brought these to the band and they just knocked 'em out of the park as full band renditions, that I just had to include them on the next record. Other working titles for songs we're working on are "Good Christian Woman," "June on a Spoon," "Because I Let You," "Stealing From Ourselves," and "Sunday Morning Got You Down." I still have a lot of writing to finish up, but I am working on it! Fear not! We're also gonna have some special guests on this record too, but more on that later.
Well, I'd love to keep writing, but I think it's time I put my stinky self in the shower. Besides, I'll save some stuff for the next blog.
Hope you're doing fine. Peace & love to you...
-SA
Mostly, I've been focused on school and trying to make some money these past few months. I'm happy to report that paying attention to my collegiate career has paid off, as I once again scored a series of straight A's this past Spring semester, and am proudly upholding a 3.96 GPA. Only one more year to go and then out into the world of the worst economic condition in years. But alas... I've always been one to turn lemons into lemonade, and am already devising a most awesome plan to navigate these rough economic waters, even already implementing them.
On the money front (and this is where the blog title of 'Making some changes' comes in), I've just been trying to be smart, make good moves, using good judgment. Running a band is an expensive venture. I'm not complaining, but it's just not always easy. We put out a CD (Where You Come From) right on the verge of an economic meltdown and at a time when CDs just are not selling like they used to (some believe that music should be free - I disagree). But specifically on the topic of this blog, I decided to pull down my music off of MySpace. Perhaps MySpace will kick me off for saying the following (and quite frankly, don't care if they do), but I believe that MySpace makes a lot of money off of people providing content. Whether it's a band, a comedian, a movie maker, or even a regular user, all provide content making MySpace a destination for many. If you'll notice, YOU are bombarded with ads when you get here. My logic is this: You provide content. MySpace sells ads. MySpace makes a ton of money off of these ad sales, because MySpace is a destination due to uploaded content. Artists like myself don't receive any money for our content, even though it's used as a catalyst to slap an ad over. I think that's wrong.
In todays music industry, the old business model is DEAD. It's so dead it's turned into oil. Understand, music artists today have a difficult time just breaking even. One wonderful invention to help artists maintain a viable business has been the internet. Nowadays, there are websites dedicated to delivering great content that share their ad revenues with those that provide the content. I think that's the right thing to do. While I use a site that does such a thing, I'm certainly not getting rich off it. Hell, I couldn't even buy gas with that money. But the principle is something I greatly admire. It's something MySpace has never even attempted to do.
Therefore, I've removed my songs from MySpace. Now, there is a widget from ReverbNation (I encourage you to go there) that has replaced the MySpace music player. So, yes, there is still music on MySpace, but it's coming from ReverbNation. It may sound confusing, I know. It's like selling my own gourmet pizza in a Domino's pizza store, if that analogy helps.
In other news...
I'd like to give a great big welcome to Antonio's brother Gerard as the new bass player for the band. Gerard, like his brother, brings a lot of experience, professionalism, and talent to the group. He's a welcome addition to the family and we're all glad to have him aboard. That means that Fred is now free to use both hands and work his magic on the Rhodes. Sometimes 2 are better than 1!
We began recording in April and are intermittently returning to the studio, slowly finishing up the next record to release it in the fall. I don't really have too much info, other than we've finish basic tracking for "I Can't Wait To Let You Down," "Seventy Letters," "The Last One," "Not Sad To See You Leave," and "Vermont." You might recognize these titles from the Everything Is Something Else acoustic EP, and you'd be right. I brought these to the band and they just knocked 'em out of the park as full band renditions, that I just had to include them on the next record. Other working titles for songs we're working on are "Good Christian Woman," "June on a Spoon," "Because I Let You," "Stealing From Ourselves," and "Sunday Morning Got You Down." I still have a lot of writing to finish up, but I am working on it! Fear not! We're also gonna have some special guests on this record too, but more on that later.
Well, I'd love to keep writing, but I think it's time I put my stinky self in the shower. Besides, I'll save some stuff for the next blog.
Hope you're doing fine. Peace & love to you...
-SA
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