- Wishing everyone the best for the Holiday Season. Remembering too that it can be a difficult time for people, as that Irish saying goes...""Ni thulgeann an seach an seang"(the well-fed person doesn't understand the hungry one").
- The Irish blessing I'm sending out to you is. "May your home always be too small to hold all your friends"...
- and may you always have music in your lives....
- Happy Holidays!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Cady Finlayson & Vita Tanga - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen: Irish blessings for the Holidays
Sunday, November 14, 2010
The Gnome in Kerhonkson, NY
This weekend was NERFA, which is a big folk music conference in Kerhonkson, NY.
I'll be writing soon about all the great music I heard there, but first ...here's a tourist attraction for Kerhonkson, NY. I'm told it's no longer the largest gnome in the world, maybe the 2nd largest.
Of course I had to stop and play a tune in front of it and when it's ready it'll be on my youtube channel (www.youtube.com/cadyfinlayson)
Friday, October 15, 2010
Defining yourself as an artist/musician
Yesterday Vita and I were working on a video - a promo video for concert presenters. We wanted something that shows what we do -"Spirited Irish fiddle with a Global Twist" ,the audience reaction, and really a very personal visual statement about this musical journey we're inviting people to take with us. A journey that includes great respect for both traditional Irish music and the Global flavors of the world.
After working for several hours (video takes forever!) putting clips in order, deciding what to say etc. , Vita says...
"I now see exactly what it is that we do".....
and we both laughed, but it's so true-
sometimes you're so busy doing what you do, you don't even SEE what you do.
When you finally do see it,
you realize the magnitude-the beauty - and the special individual contribution every human being has on this planet. You hope that we're all given the chance to give what it is that we have - whether it's music or kindness or inspiration to others. The video we're making is supposed to be for presenters. Ironically, it reminded me of exactly what it is we do as artists, why it's important to define this for ourselves and others, and how "SEEING' what you do puts it all in perspective.
After working for several hours (video takes forever!) putting clips in order, deciding what to say etc. , Vita says...
"I now see exactly what it is that we do".....
and we both laughed, but it's so true-
sometimes you're so busy doing what you do, you don't even SEE what you do.
When you finally do see it,
you realize the magnitude-the beauty - and the special individual contribution every human being has on this planet. You hope that we're all given the chance to give what it is that we have - whether it's music or kindness or inspiration to others. The video we're making is supposed to be for presenters. Ironically, it reminded me of exactly what it is we do as artists, why it's important to define this for ourselves and others, and how "SEEING' what you do puts it all in perspective.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Tornado in Brooklyn and band videos
For the last 9 weeks, my blog has been about the "Music Success in Nine Weeks" blog challenge. The challenge is over, but I'm continuing to be inspired by the ideas in the book. I'm still writing my "5 daily successes", which is inspiring and something I recommend for everyone!
The big news is that we had a tornado in Brooklyn. It's funny because just the other day I was in Times Square shopping for my niece at one of those Broadway stores and they had a magnet with Dorothy's shiny red shoes (Wizard of Oz). I wanted to buy it, but didn't give in to the impulse purchase, and now I'm definitely going to get one!!
I totally missed the tornado (I was on the subway), but when I visited Vita's street, it really became clear. A lot of the brownstones lost roofs on his block, plus a lot of big trees down.
On the music front, Vita and I have been going through video footage so we can put a sample together for presenters. We've also been watching other musician videos to get ideas.
I hadn't realized how many venues we'd played in until I started going through DVDs (and a few VHS!). The next challenge is choosing what to say about our music and how to tie it all together. And do so in a few minutes!!
One highlight of video watching was seeing the workshop/concert my band did with Third Street Music School in New York City. When you're in the midst of it all, you don't always realize how incredible it is, but to see hundreds of kids playing Irish music for the first time really brought it all home. I hope to do more of this projects in the coming year!
Here's wishing everyone a good start to fall and all it brings - cady
The big news is that we had a tornado in Brooklyn. It's funny because just the other day I was in Times Square shopping for my niece at one of those Broadway stores and they had a magnet with Dorothy's shiny red shoes (Wizard of Oz). I wanted to buy it, but didn't give in to the impulse purchase, and now I'm definitely going to get one!!
I totally missed the tornado (I was on the subway), but when I visited Vita's street, it really became clear. A lot of the brownstones lost roofs on his block, plus a lot of big trees down.
On the music front, Vita and I have been going through video footage so we can put a sample together for presenters. We've also been watching other musician videos to get ideas.
I hadn't realized how many venues we'd played in until I started going through DVDs (and a few VHS!). The next challenge is choosing what to say about our music and how to tie it all together. And do so in a few minutes!!
One highlight of video watching was seeing the workshop/concert my band did with Third Street Music School in New York City. When you're in the midst of it all, you don't always realize how incredible it is, but to see hundreds of kids playing Irish music for the first time really brought it all home. I hope to do more of this projects in the coming year!
Here's wishing everyone a good start to fall and all it brings - cady
Sunday, September 05, 2010
Music Success in Nine Weeks: Blog Challenge Week -Creating a Contiuum Plan
Last week of the Music Success in Nine Weeks Blog Challenge! It goes so quickly and you realize how much you can get done in 9 weeks when you keep your focus and put your mind to it. I also like having a road map, which Ariel Hyatt gives you in her book.
Chapter 7 (last week) the focus was on live networking. I just returned from the WAA conference (Western Arts Alliance), where I tried all the suggestions, even the one about touching your head and repeating to yourself the exact things you want before you go into a room. I did this in the restroom before my pitch session and the woman that walked in did give me a weird look (maybe people don't talk to themselves as much outside of NY?!), but I soldiered on and felt good about the "pitch session" (they give you 2 minutes to let people know about your group). Now that I'm back, I'm doing the last step which is the follow-up - probably the most important and also the easiest to slack on....
Moving into Chapter 9 - Creating a Continuum Plan.
My first reaction to this was - NO MORE SELLING. This is of course the opposite of the point (the point is to think about what you can offer your fans that they can buy on a regular basis). Starting with a free mp3 for joining the mailing list, going to 99c downloads, full album, song per month club, special events, private shows, custom songs, aligning with charities, etc.
Then I actually started brainstorming about what would be fun, for both me and the people who enjoy our music, The idea of creating events that would help foster that sense of community. It brought me back to when I did the "Fiddlers on the Loose Show" with a funky-jazz fiddler (DaPhat Funk) a Greek fiddler (Elektra Kurtis) and our Irish set. That was such a nice night and several people came up and said they might not have bought a ticket and gone to hear one of those genres on their own, but they loved all of them and were so glad to have it brought to them.
So my ideas on the consortium for us are:
1. Do some theme shows for our fans that involve other artists-
Thinking about Valentine's Day or other holidays, but maybe some obscure ones.
2, Have a 12 days of Christmas club and those that join will receive a video and/or soundclip of us playing our version of our favorite Christmas melodies. (Can you tell I LOVE Christmas?)
3. Bring in some other people to make it an event. In LA, they were talking about t-shirt companies that come to the gig and make t-shirts right there. Maybe we could have jugglers or pipers or face painting.
4. Write and record a tune just for you. You can have your own Planxty! (the Irish tunes the harper O'Carolyn wrote and dedicated to his hosts were called Planxty ______ as in Planxty Sullivan or whatever their name was. Fill in your own name!
I'll of course keep you posted when we roll all this out, and if you want to be the first to know, join our mailing list/newsletter. You can also write me with any ideas you have, what we can offer you that would be fun.
SO TO RECAP:
Music Success in Nine Weeks is a deceptively small book that packs a big punch. It's not something you read once and put away, it's a program you follow and build on and revisit! Having the framework is helpful and if you need some extra accountability, you can do as I did and join the blog challenge.
The suggestion in the book that helped me the most and one I highly recommend is writing down your 5 successes every day. I have a notebook that I labeled FIVE SUCCESSES and I've been doing it faithfully since I started the challenge. It's a great motivator!! Writing down your successes makes you evaluate what you are actually doing to reach your dreams. It also reminds you that those big moments happen because of all the daily little moments. That's inspiration to keep going with all those daily moments.
Chapter 7 (last week) the focus was on live networking. I just returned from the WAA conference (Western Arts Alliance), where I tried all the suggestions, even the one about touching your head and repeating to yourself the exact things you want before you go into a room. I did this in the restroom before my pitch session and the woman that walked in did give me a weird look (maybe people don't talk to themselves as much outside of NY?!), but I soldiered on and felt good about the "pitch session" (they give you 2 minutes to let people know about your group). Now that I'm back, I'm doing the last step which is the follow-up - probably the most important and also the easiest to slack on....
Moving into Chapter 9 - Creating a Continuum Plan.
My first reaction to this was - NO MORE SELLING. This is of course the opposite of the point (the point is to think about what you can offer your fans that they can buy on a regular basis). Starting with a free mp3 for joining the mailing list, going to 99c downloads, full album, song per month club, special events, private shows, custom songs, aligning with charities, etc.
Then I actually started brainstorming about what would be fun, for both me and the people who enjoy our music, The idea of creating events that would help foster that sense of community. It brought me back to when I did the "Fiddlers on the Loose Show" with a funky-jazz fiddler (DaPhat Funk) a Greek fiddler (Elektra Kurtis) and our Irish set. That was such a nice night and several people came up and said they might not have bought a ticket and gone to hear one of those genres on their own, but they loved all of them and were so glad to have it brought to them.
So my ideas on the consortium for us are:
1. Do some theme shows for our fans that involve other artists-
Thinking about Valentine's Day or other holidays, but maybe some obscure ones.
2, Have a 12 days of Christmas club and those that join will receive a video and/or soundclip of us playing our version of our favorite Christmas melodies. (Can you tell I LOVE Christmas?)
3. Bring in some other people to make it an event. In LA, they were talking about t-shirt companies that come to the gig and make t-shirts right there. Maybe we could have jugglers or pipers or face painting.
4. Write and record a tune just for you. You can have your own Planxty! (the Irish tunes the harper O'Carolyn wrote and dedicated to his hosts were called Planxty ______ as in Planxty Sullivan or whatever their name was. Fill in your own name!
I'll of course keep you posted when we roll all this out, and if you want to be the first to know, join our mailing list/newsletter. You can also write me with any ideas you have, what we can offer you that would be fun.
SO TO RECAP:
Music Success in Nine Weeks is a deceptively small book that packs a big punch. It's not something you read once and put away, it's a program you follow and build on and revisit! Having the framework is helpful and if you need some extra accountability, you can do as I did and join the blog challenge.
The suggestion in the book that helped me the most and one I highly recommend is writing down your 5 successes every day. I have a notebook that I labeled FIVE SUCCESSES and I've been doing it faithfully since I started the challenge. It's a great motivator!! Writing down your successes makes you evaluate what you are actually doing to reach your dreams. It also reminds you that those big moments happen because of all the daily little moments. That's inspiration to keep going with all those daily moments.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Music Success in Nine Weeks Blog Challenge: Chapter 8 Real Live Networking
This week's chapter is about "Real Live Networking" (i.e. making those connections in person).
It's timely chapter for me because I'm going to the Western Arts Alliance conference next week (a presenter's conference) so I'll get to put Ariel's tips in action.
I'm reviewing the networking reminders in this chapter
(Be memorable, ask about THEM and thinking how you can be helpful to this person, your focus, etc.).
I'm also thinking of the great networkers I know, and what it is about them that makes you want to have them in your circle and be connected. I have a friend, Monty, who is a great Irish mandolin player. He and I played together in various bands over the years. Monty would call now and then to say hi - and I think this also reminded me that he was around so when I was looking to add an extra musician to something, I'd have him in the front of my mind. Also though, if he thought of someone I should meet or run across something I should know about, he'd let me know. Monte moved to the South a few years back and I knew I'd miss playing with him. Several weeks after he left NY,thought, he forwarded a "help wanted" ad from a NY restaurant 2 blocks away from my apartment. They were looking for a musician. So Monty really got the "How can I be helpful to this person" side of networking.
The other "work a room expert" is a little girl I know who's 6 years old. She seems to remember something about everyone and arriving and leaving school is always an event. "Bob, I like your shirt", she says. "Karen, how was your knitting class, did you get a chance to try that new stitch you were talking about?". It's a genuine interest in people as people, and the truth is, we like to work with people we like and enjoy as people too, right? I know I do.
Since I'm somewhat shy, I'd always rather talk about the other person anyway, so that part isn't as big of a stretch for me as it is for some musicians (you know those types that run up to you at networking events and immediately want you to sign their mailing list and don't even ask what kind of music you like or your name). Or that immediately dismiss whatever you do as irrelevant to them since you're in Irish music and they're in "Subversive hip-hop with a twinge of metal".
I learned not to make these assumptions when I did a workshop in Nashville. I was paired up with a musician named Saturn who was a gay Afro-American guy from Baltimore that did a lot of music shows with homosexual themes/dancing, original music with a pop flavor etc. Saturn ended up being the one to tell ma all about the Irish scene in Baltimore- you never really know what people will bring to the table.
So we'll see how it goes at the conference. I have the business cards/outfits/Ariel's tips ready and am going with the intent to explore and meet people as people. There will be a lot of concert presenters (it's a presenter conference after all!), and that can be a little intimidating as a musician because there does seem to be a gap somehow between presenters and musicians. Plus that whole idea that "if you're not represented by an agency, you are not qualified" ...
But there is a quote on my mirror that I cut out years ago, I wish I'd saved the source, but it was a pop artist answering this question
"What is the most difficult thing you have overcome?"
ANSWER: "Waiting to be "discovered" by the entertainment industry. One day I woke up and chose to discover my own damn self!"
So that's Chapter 8, I'll let you know how it ends up, using all the tips in the chapter.
Continuing with writing down Five Successes every day, here are some of my top ones for this week.
1. Worked/negotiated to establish a fall schedule that will give me more chunks of time to work on both the performing/creative aspects and built-in office hours to do the business aspects of music.
2. Put on a concert in a "classical series" that also included some Irish music and found ways to blend them for new audiences.
3. Experimented with some new "smoothies" with vegetarian protein (one of my goals is to be more healthy)
4. Contacted my mentor to get advice on the 2 min. pitch/presentation I'll be doing
at the conference.
5. Started brainstorming about a video series I could do on my youtube
Exploring potential topics from Irish music ideas to "A day in the life" to "Helpful info to parents whose kids will be studying instruments".
site-(www.youtube.com/cadyfinlayson)
Two other books to recommend:
ONE: The Music Teaching Bible has lots of ideas for presenting art/school presentations, etc. It's a serious book that asks a lot of those "what is valuable about what we do" and how to bring this to people in a way that combines it with what they know already.
TWO: "Making Music and Enriching Lives": A Guide for all Music Teachers. This one is a very in-depth book about teaching (with a focus on private teaching/studio teaching, but the ideas can apply to any situation). What I loved about it is that that there are a ton of very specific and helpful examples for teaching and it is also inspiring to read.
It's timely chapter for me because I'm going to the Western Arts Alliance conference next week (a presenter's conference) so I'll get to put Ariel's tips in action.
I'm reviewing the networking reminders in this chapter
(Be memorable, ask about THEM and thinking how you can be helpful to this person, your focus, etc.).
I'm also thinking of the great networkers I know, and what it is about them that makes you want to have them in your circle and be connected. I have a friend, Monty, who is a great Irish mandolin player. He and I played together in various bands over the years. Monty would call now and then to say hi - and I think this also reminded me that he was around so when I was looking to add an extra musician to something, I'd have him in the front of my mind. Also though, if he thought of someone I should meet or run across something I should know about, he'd let me know. Monte moved to the South a few years back and I knew I'd miss playing with him. Several weeks after he left NY,thought, he forwarded a "help wanted" ad from a NY restaurant 2 blocks away from my apartment. They were looking for a musician. So Monty really got the "How can I be helpful to this person" side of networking.
The other "work a room expert" is a little girl I know who's 6 years old. She seems to remember something about everyone and arriving and leaving school is always an event. "Bob, I like your shirt", she says. "Karen, how was your knitting class, did you get a chance to try that new stitch you were talking about?". It's a genuine interest in people as people, and the truth is, we like to work with people we like and enjoy as people too, right? I know I do.
Since I'm somewhat shy, I'd always rather talk about the other person anyway, so that part isn't as big of a stretch for me as it is for some musicians (you know those types that run up to you at networking events and immediately want you to sign their mailing list and don't even ask what kind of music you like or your name). Or that immediately dismiss whatever you do as irrelevant to them since you're in Irish music and they're in "Subversive hip-hop with a twinge of metal".
I learned not to make these assumptions when I did a workshop in Nashville. I was paired up with a musician named Saturn who was a gay Afro-American guy from Baltimore that did a lot of music shows with homosexual themes/dancing, original music with a pop flavor etc. Saturn ended up being the one to tell ma all about the Irish scene in Baltimore- you never really know what people will bring to the table.
So we'll see how it goes at the conference. I have the business cards/outfits/Ariel's tips ready and am going with the intent to explore and meet people as people. There will be a lot of concert presenters (it's a presenter conference after all!), and that can be a little intimidating as a musician because there does seem to be a gap somehow between presenters and musicians. Plus that whole idea that "if you're not represented by an agency, you are not qualified" ...
But there is a quote on my mirror that I cut out years ago, I wish I'd saved the source, but it was a pop artist answering this question
"What is the most difficult thing you have overcome?"
ANSWER: "Waiting to be "discovered" by the entertainment industry. One day I woke up and chose to discover my own damn self!"
So that's Chapter 8, I'll let you know how it ends up, using all the tips in the chapter.
Continuing with writing down Five Successes every day, here are some of my top ones for this week.
1. Worked/negotiated to establish a fall schedule that will give me more chunks of time to work on both the performing/creative aspects and built-in office hours to do the business aspects of music.
2. Put on a concert in a "classical series" that also included some Irish music and found ways to blend them for new audiences.
3. Experimented with some new "smoothies" with vegetarian protein (one of my goals is to be more healthy)
4. Contacted my mentor to get advice on the 2 min. pitch/presentation I'll be doing
at the conference.
5. Started brainstorming about a video series I could do on my youtube
Exploring potential topics from Irish music ideas to "A day in the life" to "Helpful info to parents whose kids will be studying instruments".
site-(www.youtube.com/cadyfinlayson)
Two other books to recommend:
ONE: The Music Teaching Bible has lots of ideas for presenting art/school presentations, etc. It's a serious book that asks a lot of those "what is valuable about what we do" and how to bring this to people in a way that combines it with what they know already.
TWO: "Making Music and Enriching Lives": A Guide for all Music Teachers. This one is a very in-depth book about teaching (with a focus on private teaching/studio teaching, but the ideas can apply to any situation). What I loved about it is that that there are a ton of very specific and helpful examples for teaching and it is also inspiring to read.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Music Success in Nine Weeks: Chapter 7 How to Build your Mailing List
Chapter Seven in Ariel Hyatt's book is "How to build your mailing list". There is a box in this chapter that says: Building your Fan Base = Building your e-mail list AND the size of your e-mail list = the size of your income.
This is a reality check for me. My mailing list is one area I haven't spent a lot of time on in the past and one of my financial goals is to earn enough to do a music video, so seeing it like that, I'd better get on it!
A few months ago I signed up to do my newsletter with reverbnation, (www.reverbnation.com/cadyfinlayson). I like it because it's easy (easy to add music/photos/widgets, etc. ). I took the Music Success chapter to heart and have been more consistent and regular about sending it out (those were the other points mentioned).
So this week,drum roll... I set weekly "office hours" to work on the mailing list. My goal is to do it once a week for one hour for the next 6 weeks. I decided not to worry about how many people join just yet, only that I'm inviting people and considering it a regular part of my business (by the way if you'd like to receive the newsletter list, sign up already. (on the front page at fiddleandguitar.com and on celticfiddle.blogspot.com on the right panel).
This got me thinking about the whole "office hours" thing and working for yourself. Being both a little bit of a workaholic (ok, a lot!) a pretty good procrastinator, and often over-extended, I think having a plan about all my music business activities might be in order. I started writing down all the things I'd like to set aside time for. I also looked at the list and saw that it was too much.
Musical
1. Daily time to write music
2. Daily time to practice violin (warm-ups/maintenance practice)
3. Weekly time to practice violin (exploring new tunes/possibilities)
4. Daily time to practice singing while playing and using octave pedal. (even 10 min)
4. Rehearsals with bandmembers (2x a month?)
Music Business
3. Weekly time to add to mailing list.
4. Weekly time to concentrate on booking gigs/applying to festivals.
5. Weekly time to concentrate on music licensing (sending out material/contracts, etc. )
6. Weekly time for mailings (cd's, applications, conference prep, etc. )
7. Weekly time for organizing gigs (calling bandmembers,publicity sending music, mapquest, etc.. )
I started thinking about which things I could hire someone else to do. I decided for sure that I could commit to the practicing and the mailing list (baby steps!).
I also was inspired this week by another to-the-point remarkable book called "The Truth about Getting More done" -written by Mark Fritz. There was one quote in there "If everything is important, then nothing is important". Kind of makes you think, doesn't it?
So to recap, as Ariel points out, your mailing list is your most valuable asset. It's your income potential! It has been a goal to build it for a while, but now I have a specific hour to work on it each week. For a little extra inspiration, I am taping a $20 bill to my computer during my mailing list office hour! And I'm going to try the other suggestions about having a "Live Show Bonus".
It sounds like a good way to get the word out about the new Electric Green CD without feeling like a commercial car salesman!
This is a reality check for me. My mailing list is one area I haven't spent a lot of time on in the past and one of my financial goals is to earn enough to do a music video, so seeing it like that, I'd better get on it!
A few months ago I signed up to do my newsletter with reverbnation, (www.reverbnation.com/cadyfinlayson). I like it because it's easy (easy to add music/photos/widgets, etc. ). I took the Music Success chapter to heart and have been more consistent and regular about sending it out (those were the other points mentioned).
So this week,drum roll... I set weekly "office hours" to work on the mailing list. My goal is to do it once a week for one hour for the next 6 weeks. I decided not to worry about how many people join just yet, only that I'm inviting people and considering it a regular part of my business (by the way if you'd like to receive the newsletter list, sign up already. (on the front page at fiddleandguitar.com and on celticfiddle.blogspot.com on the right panel).
This got me thinking about the whole "office hours" thing and working for yourself. Being both a little bit of a workaholic (ok, a lot!) a pretty good procrastinator, and often over-extended, I think having a plan about all my music business activities might be in order. I started writing down all the things I'd like to set aside time for. I also looked at the list and saw that it was too much.
Musical
1. Daily time to write music
2. Daily time to practice violin (warm-ups/maintenance practice)
3. Weekly time to practice violin (exploring new tunes/possibilities)
4. Daily time to practice singing while playing and using octave pedal. (even 10 min)
4. Rehearsals with bandmembers (2x a month?)
Music Business
3. Weekly time to add to mailing list.
4. Weekly time to concentrate on booking gigs/applying to festivals.
5. Weekly time to concentrate on music licensing (sending out material/contracts, etc. )
6. Weekly time for mailings (cd's, applications, conference prep, etc. )
7. Weekly time for organizing gigs (calling bandmembers,publicity sending music, mapquest, etc.. )
I started thinking about which things I could hire someone else to do. I decided for sure that I could commit to the practicing and the mailing list (baby steps!).
I also was inspired this week by another to-the-point remarkable book called "The Truth about Getting More done" -written by Mark Fritz. There was one quote in there "If everything is important, then nothing is important". Kind of makes you think, doesn't it?
So to recap, as Ariel points out, your mailing list is your most valuable asset. It's your income potential! It has been a goal to build it for a while, but now I have a specific hour to work on it each week. For a little extra inspiration, I am taping a $20 bill to my computer during my mailing list office hour! And I'm going to try the other suggestions about having a "Live Show Bonus".
It sounds like a good way to get the word out about the new Electric Green CD without feeling like a commercial car salesman!
Friday, August 13, 2010
Music Success in Nine Weeks Blog Challenge: Connecting with fans via Newsletter and conducting surveys
Week 6 already in the blog challenge, hard to believe how quickly time passes.
My very-productive morning started with an 8:30 am phone call from my Visa company regarding unusual activity and what they thought might be a fraudulent charge on my account. It was a 99cent download from itunes!
Please let me sleep in until at least nine if it's about such big expenditures...!!
This week's Chapter of Music Success in Nine Weeks is all about Connecting with fans- newsletter list and surveys. Who are your fans?, What are there hobbies?, Where do they go when they're not out hearing live music, What interests do you have in common with them that you can build upon in your newsletter? (coffee? tapdancing?)
Just fyi, the ideal fan minimum is 1,000 (http:wwtinyurl.com/1000TrueFans)
but don't panic if you're not up to this yet... the fan building info is in the next chapter)
I do have a newsletter, and since I've been on the blog challenge, I'm being much more regular about it (making sure it goes out every month) and also thinking of things that might interest people that have nothing to do with music. Just for an example, when Vita and I played for the Celebrate Fairfax festival in VA, there was a football player there signing autographs (DeAngelo Hall), and he's a "cornerback". I asked on a few of my sites what a cornerback was, and boy, did I get a lot of mail. It seems my fans know all about football. Who would've guessed!
This month's newsletter goes out next week . (Sign up on the right panel of the blog). It has my smoothie recipe (as featured on the Backstage Gourmet Radio Show with PJ Grimes), the latest update about Vita and his bike accident (he's going to be ok), and a "Call for action" (looking for people to rate/review our Electric Green CD on itunes).
I'm continuing to work on my goals and writing down 5 successes every day. I was a little bummed to see that I didn't meet one of my goals (by August 6th to have 1,000 people on fan list), but I did gain a lot more than I would've without that so I'm going to look upon it as progress.
On a more positive note, one of my goals for the summer was to tackle some of the things that make me uncomfortable. I took a class on "reading a teleprompter" which for me was more about being comfortable in front of a camera. I learned to cook several healthy dishes (in preparation for the Backstage Gourmet radio show), and I started going to some sort of exercise class at the Y every single day. Including ballet, where I like to pretend I am very elegant while I can see that I am not!
But the biggest takeaway from all this, is that the more I do these things, the more comfortable they feel. I've always felt very comfortable playing the violin, performing, etc. it's like a 2nd skin to me, but it's not the only skill you need as a musician, so I'm taking these newfound skills, and the confidence gained with them and saying, "Yes, I can do this!". and that's the biggest motivator there is.
Checkout the interview Vita and I did with our recipes...
http://healthylife.net/RadioShow/archive.htm
P.S.
Just an aside note, nothing to do with Music Success in Nine Weeks or the blog challenge...
If you like tapdancing, my cousin's wife is on that show "America's Got Talent" Tues Aug. 17th 9 pm NBC with the Hot Shot Tap Dancers. They are incredible dancers and could use your votes! NBC.com will have all the voting instructions for e-mail voting and phone voting that night...(you can actually vote after the show is over all night long!)
My very-productive morning started with an 8:30 am phone call from my Visa company regarding unusual activity and what they thought might be a fraudulent charge on my account. It was a 99cent download from itunes!
Please let me sleep in until at least nine if it's about such big expenditures...!!
This week's Chapter of Music Success in Nine Weeks is all about Connecting with fans- newsletter list and surveys. Who are your fans?, What are there hobbies?, Where do they go when they're not out hearing live music, What interests do you have in common with them that you can build upon in your newsletter? (coffee? tapdancing?)
Just fyi, the ideal fan minimum is 1,000 (http:wwtinyurl.com/1000TrueFans)
but don't panic if you're not up to this yet... the fan building info is in the next chapter)
I do have a newsletter, and since I've been on the blog challenge, I'm being much more regular about it (making sure it goes out every month) and also thinking of things that might interest people that have nothing to do with music. Just for an example, when Vita and I played for the Celebrate Fairfax festival in VA, there was a football player there signing autographs (DeAngelo Hall), and he's a "cornerback". I asked on a few of my sites what a cornerback was, and boy, did I get a lot of mail. It seems my fans know all about football. Who would've guessed!
This month's newsletter goes out next week . (Sign up on the right panel of the blog). It has my smoothie recipe (as featured on the Backstage Gourmet Radio Show with PJ Grimes), the latest update about Vita and his bike accident (he's going to be ok), and a "Call for action" (looking for people to rate/review our Electric Green CD on itunes).
I'm continuing to work on my goals and writing down 5 successes every day. I was a little bummed to see that I didn't meet one of my goals (by August 6th to have 1,000 people on fan list), but I did gain a lot more than I would've without that so I'm going to look upon it as progress.
On a more positive note, one of my goals for the summer was to tackle some of the things that make me uncomfortable. I took a class on "reading a teleprompter" which for me was more about being comfortable in front of a camera. I learned to cook several healthy dishes (in preparation for the Backstage Gourmet radio show), and I started going to some sort of exercise class at the Y every single day. Including ballet, where I like to pretend I am very elegant while I can see that I am not!
But the biggest takeaway from all this, is that the more I do these things, the more comfortable they feel. I've always felt very comfortable playing the violin, performing, etc. it's like a 2nd skin to me, but it's not the only skill you need as a musician, so I'm taking these newfound skills, and the confidence gained with them and saying, "Yes, I can do this!". and that's the biggest motivator there is.
Checkout the interview Vita and I did with our recipes...
http://healthylife.net/RadioShow/archive.htm
P.S.
Just an aside note, nothing to do with Music Success in Nine Weeks or the blog challenge...
If you like tapdancing, my cousin's wife is on that show "America's Got Talent" Tues Aug. 17th 9 pm NBC with the Hot Shot Tap Dancers. They are incredible dancers and could use your votes! NBC.com will have all the voting instructions for e-mail voting and phone voting that night...(you can actually vote after the show is over all night long!)
Friday, August 06, 2010
Music Success in Nine Weeks Blog Challenge: Week 5 Blogging
It's hard to believe we're already in week five of the Music Success in Nine Weeks Blog Challenge. In just five weeks, I've got my blog, organized/social networking, a habit of five successes every day, and I know how to cook Quinoa!
Chapter Five is all about blogging - the importance of having a blog, reading other blogs, and participating in the blogging community. There are tips for searching blogs to find ones that resonate with you. Ariel's book mentions a NYU study that found that if 40 or more blogs were posted before an album's release, sales ended up being 3-4 times as high.
The link to the actually study seemed to be expired, but I found some comments about it here.
http://www.coolfer.com/blog/archives/2008/02/blog_posts_help.php
As with any study, there are a lot of variables, but from personal experience I can say that there are a TON of people reading blogs. On myspace for example, I was surpised to find there are often more people reading the blogs than listening to the music.
So I got to work making a blogroll as suggested ( this is actually the point of this book, to do the work not just read about it!!).
-A blogroll is a list of blogs that you read or like, that cover your genre of music
So I did that. Then I also synched my blog here with my fiddleandguitar.com site (at hostbaby) so people can get to it without me having to cut and paste.
Finally, I joined mybloglog.com. This seems to result in a lot of "friend requests" of all sorts, so the jury is still out on that one.
Mostly though I think the key in this chapter, once you get into the blogging and all, is that you can maximize all your efforts by linking them (doing a blogroll, adding your blog to your other sites, etc.).
So to sum up Chapter 5, blogs are a great way to find the community that loves and supports your music and interestes, and to become a part of it. The tips for searching blogs, linking blogs, really getting out there are all in this chapter.
I did want to mention on a more personal note, that there is another benefit to blogging. I actually started my blog when I was feeling the challenges of being a bandleader. I would write some of the adventures down when I was frustrated, and all of a sudden they were sort of funny and crazy and "who has a life like this anyway??".
So it helped me to put it all in perspective and see that, if the car breaks down on the way to a gig and the Triple A tow truck driver sees you and drives right by because he "saw these people playing music by the road and they looked too happy to be stranded", and you end up waiting 2 extra hours because the Boston highway has a new bridge and highway traffic is stalled, etc. etc. , it's going on your blog and you'll laugh about in the future.
(this was a gig I did with Welsh singer Jodee James that we laugh about to this day).
Search Amazon.com for Shines Like Silver
Chapter Five is all about blogging - the importance of having a blog, reading other blogs, and participating in the blogging community. There are tips for searching blogs to find ones that resonate with you. Ariel's book mentions a NYU study that found that if 40 or more blogs were posted before an album's release, sales ended up being 3-4 times as high.
The link to the actually study seemed to be expired, but I found some comments about it here.
http://www.coolfer.com/blog/archives/2008/02/blog_posts_help.php
As with any study, there are a lot of variables, but from personal experience I can say that there are a TON of people reading blogs. On myspace for example, I was surpised to find there are often more people reading the blogs than listening to the music.
So I got to work making a blogroll as suggested ( this is actually the point of this book, to do the work not just read about it!!).
-A blogroll is a list of blogs that you read or like, that cover your genre of music
So I did that. Then I also synched my blog here with my fiddleandguitar.com site (at hostbaby) so people can get to it without me having to cut and paste.
Finally, I joined mybloglog.com. This seems to result in a lot of "friend requests" of all sorts, so the jury is still out on that one.
Mostly though I think the key in this chapter, once you get into the blogging and all, is that you can maximize all your efforts by linking them (doing a blogroll, adding your blog to your other sites, etc.).
So to sum up Chapter 5, blogs are a great way to find the community that loves and supports your music and interestes, and to become a part of it. The tips for searching blogs, linking blogs, really getting out there are all in this chapter.
I did want to mention on a more personal note, that there is another benefit to blogging. I actually started my blog when I was feeling the challenges of being a bandleader. I would write some of the adventures down when I was frustrated, and all of a sudden they were sort of funny and crazy and "who has a life like this anyway??".
So it helped me to put it all in perspective and see that, if the car breaks down on the way to a gig and the Triple A tow truck driver sees you and drives right by because he "saw these people playing music by the road and they looked too happy to be stranded", and you end up waiting 2 extra hours because the Boston highway has a new bridge and highway traffic is stalled, etc. etc. , it's going on your blog and you'll laugh about in the future.
(this was a gig I did with Welsh singer Jodee James that we laugh about to this day).
Search Amazon.com for Shines Like Silver
Friday, July 30, 2010
Music Success in Nine Weeks Blog Challenge Wk. 4: Social Media for Musicians
This week was the real challenge because I was traveling and getting used to a new phone. I guess I'm not an early adapter, but I finally got a phone that can do internet and all this social networking that is outlined in Chapter 4 of Ariel Hyatt's, "Music Success in Nine Weeks". I have to confess my 8-year old nephew helped me figure out how to turn the phone on and off....
So forging ahead, I started working on linking my social networking sites (did you know you can go to tinyurl.com/selectivetweet.com and choose which tweets go to your facebook?). A lot of the chapters talk about the importance of social networking and getting on flickr/twitter, etc. and I am convinced of that now. going full-steam ahead and starting to enjoy the online aspect.
Twitter is my favorite because it's quick and to the point.
and it works! Here's an example. Last year I was in a coffee shop in my neighborhood called Naidre's. I had signed up for twitter at the time, so I had an account but didn't really know what it was or what to do with it. So I'm buying my salad to-go when I hear someone ask "Does anyone know what song that is playing on the radio?". I turned to see Derek Sivers (music business expert and original founder of CDbaby - now involved in sivers.org) who I had met once before at a music conference. I didn't know the song but I introduced myself and he asked about my website (fiddleandguitar.com). Then I left. When I got home just ten minutes later, I had an e-mail from a great guitarist who teaches at my school (Pat Bianculli_. who apparently follows Derek on twitter. Pat wrote and said, "I read about your website on twitter". I live in New York City, and at this moment I felt like I lived in a small town. THAT is the power of twitter.
So now that I'm convinced, this has been a week to link everything and you'll be seeing more of it on all my sites (follow at twitter.com/celticfiddle).
I also had to chance to share the Music Success book with my father, who will be starting his first blog (about the upcoming revised edition of his Chemical Engineering book). We skipped ahead a little to chapter 5 which is all about blogging - and really there is tons of info that applies to anyone, not just musicians. We both got in the brainstorming mode, and now I'll be writing some tunes to accompany the blog - all with Chemical Engineering themes and titles. You see what happens when you get the mind thinking in both the creative and business sides !
FIVE SUCCESSES
Lastly, I continued with my 5 successes every day. I'm being interviewed on the Backstage Gourmet (August 9th) and will be sharing Vegetarian recipes, so my sister and I measured everything out for a really tasty recipe that uses Quinoa. That's the photo at the top!
I got my Dad on the writing-down-five-daily- successes too, but was a little concerned when it was only 10 am and I found him scribbling his 5 successes already. I seemed to have missed the efficiency gene there.
In conclusion, Chapter 4 of the book confirmed that I was on the right track (doing all the media sites) but helped me to link them and USE them in new ways.
Music Success in Nine WeeksSo forging ahead, I started working on linking my social networking sites (did you know you can go to tinyurl.com/selectivetweet.com and choose which tweets go to your facebook?). A lot of the chapters talk about the importance of social networking and getting on flickr/twitter, etc. and I am convinced of that now. going full-steam ahead and starting to enjoy the online aspect.
Twitter is my favorite because it's quick and to the point.
and it works! Here's an example. Last year I was in a coffee shop in my neighborhood called Naidre's. I had signed up for twitter at the time, so I had an account but didn't really know what it was or what to do with it. So I'm buying my salad to-go when I hear someone ask "Does anyone know what song that is playing on the radio?". I turned to see Derek Sivers (music business expert and original founder of CDbaby - now involved in sivers.org) who I had met once before at a music conference. I didn't know the song but I introduced myself and he asked about my website (fiddleandguitar.com). Then I left. When I got home just ten minutes later, I had an e-mail from a great guitarist who teaches at my school (Pat Bianculli_. who apparently follows Derek on twitter. Pat wrote and said, "I read about your website on twitter". I live in New York City, and at this moment I felt like I lived in a small town. THAT is the power of twitter.
So now that I'm convinced, this has been a week to link everything and you'll be seeing more of it on all my sites (follow at twitter.com/celticfiddle).
I also had to chance to share the Music Success book with my father, who will be starting his first blog (about the upcoming revised edition of his Chemical Engineering book). We skipped ahead a little to chapter 5 which is all about blogging - and really there is tons of info that applies to anyone, not just musicians. We both got in the brainstorming mode, and now I'll be writing some tunes to accompany the blog - all with Chemical Engineering themes and titles. You see what happens when you get the mind thinking in both the creative and business sides !
FIVE SUCCESSES
Lastly, I continued with my 5 successes every day. I'm being interviewed on the Backstage Gourmet (August 9th) and will be sharing Vegetarian recipes, so my sister and I measured everything out for a really tasty recipe that uses Quinoa. That's the photo at the top!
I got my Dad on the writing-down-five-daily- successes too, but was a little concerned when it was only 10 am and I found him scribbling his 5 successes already. I seemed to have missed the efficiency gene there.
In conclusion, Chapter 4 of the book confirmed that I was on the right track (doing all the media sites) but helped me to link them and USE them in new ways.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Music Success in Nine Weeks Blog Challenge Week 3: Optimizing your website
It's week three in the blog challenge and the habit of writing down 5 successes every day is really helping me focus on my goals. One of my non-music goals is to get in shape and today I woke up early (by accident) and decided to check out the 8am ballet class at the Y. If you know me, you know I'm not a morning person and need at least one cup of strong coffee to even get dressed -so the fact that I was attempting bar exercises in a ballet class at 8 am would probably be my biggest success of the week. I have to say though that just stretching and doing bar exercises is a really nice start to the day.
So the Chapter of the week (Chapter 3) is all about "Optimizing Your Website": how to Capture Fans who are landing on your site, making your websites consistent and making them something people will want to visit often.
Ariel suggests offering a giveaway to people who sign up for the monthly newsletter. Luckily Reverbnation makes this very easy with their widget, and so now...drum roll...when you go to our fiddleandguitar.com site and sign up for the newsletter, you will receive a free MP3 instantly. (and we will never sell or give out your name).
For the future, I'm thinking of giving fans some mp3s from live shows. There are some electric moments that only happen live and my Zoom recorder does a pretty decent job of capturing them. For now though, I chose a giveaway track from the Electric Green CD, and this one features Vita on the wah pedal. I think this track (Itchy Fingers electric) would be good in a cartoon.
I'm still trying to make ALL the websites consistent. The twitter/youtube/myspace are purple but I haven't found a purple option that works for me on the fiddleandguitar.com site. It's like when you look at bathing suits and they say, "This one is for people with hips, this one is for people with short legs, this one is for people who need a bust". Well sometimes the categories/choices don't exactly fit what you're doing (what if you need ALL that in a swimming suit?). So I'm thinking a little more on this.
Music Success in Nine Weeks
So the Chapter of the week (Chapter 3) is all about "Optimizing Your Website": how to Capture Fans who are landing on your site, making your websites consistent and making them something people will want to visit often.
Ariel suggests offering a giveaway to people who sign up for the monthly newsletter. Luckily Reverbnation makes this very easy with their widget, and so now...drum roll...when you go to our fiddleandguitar.com site and sign up for the newsletter, you will receive a free MP3 instantly. (and we will never sell or give out your name).
For the future, I'm thinking of giving fans some mp3s from live shows. There are some electric moments that only happen live and my Zoom recorder does a pretty decent job of capturing them. For now though, I chose a giveaway track from the Electric Green CD, and this one features Vita on the wah pedal. I think this track (Itchy Fingers electric) would be good in a cartoon.
I'm still trying to make ALL the websites consistent. The twitter/youtube/myspace are purple but I haven't found a purple option that works for me on the fiddleandguitar.com site. It's like when you look at bathing suits and they say, "This one is for people with hips, this one is for people with short legs, this one is for people who need a bust". Well sometimes the categories/choices don't exactly fit what you're doing (what if you need ALL that in a swimming suit?). So I'm thinking a little more on this.
Music Success in Nine Weeks
Friday, July 16, 2010
Music Success in Nine Weeks Blog Challenge: Week Two: 'Perfect Pitch"
It's week two, and I'm in the chapter of "Music Success in Nine Weeks" called "Your Perfect Pitch". It's not about baseball or people that have perfect pitch (actually I do). It's all about branding yourself online and offline. There are lots of tools to help you do this (i.e. go to www.15secondpitch.com and test out your pitch).
My pitch is "Spirited Irish fiddle with a Global Twist" and I've had that for a while. My sister helped me put my musical thoughts into words (maybe that's why she's a writer) and it felt right from the very beginning. Ariel does mention in the book to practice saying it in the mirror and see if it's comfortable for you. It is! In fact, Vita (my guitarist) often asks about it during rehearsals, "Where's the twist?", he says. Sometimes I think he's the twist...
But back to the challenge,
Thanks to some professional help (nothing like hiring a professional) I coordinated three of my sites so they have a similar look and have the pitch. And yes, they are purple! Here they are!
www.myspace.com/cadyfinlayson
www.twitter.com/celticfiddle
www.youtube.com/cadyfinlayson
I also took an even bigger step and signed up to deliver a 2 minute pitch in person at the Western Arts Presenters Conference (westarts.org) which is in Long Beach CA the end of August. This will be a real challenge for me and extra inspiration to be able to articulate what we offer audiences in our show. One of my favorite quotes is "Talking about music is like dancing about architecture" but I'm going to put that aside since people need to know what they're hiring and what to expect.
So I felt good about pitch week.
I'm still writing my 5 successes every day, and actually this was especially helpful this week because it was one of those weeks when everything seemed to go wrong and sometimes it was 11:30 pm and i felt like I only had 4 successes, so knowing I was going to write them down spurred me on to complete that ONE MORE THING that could bring me closer to my goals.
My pitch is "Spirited Irish fiddle with a Global Twist" and I've had that for a while. My sister helped me put my musical thoughts into words (maybe that's why she's a writer) and it felt right from the very beginning. Ariel does mention in the book to practice saying it in the mirror and see if it's comfortable for you. It is! In fact, Vita (my guitarist) often asks about it during rehearsals, "Where's the twist?", he says. Sometimes I think he's the twist...
But back to the challenge,
Thanks to some professional help (nothing like hiring a professional) I coordinated three of my sites so they have a similar look and have the pitch. And yes, they are purple! Here they are!
www.myspace.com/cadyfinlayson
www.twitter.com/celticfiddle
www.youtube.com/cadyfinlayson
I also took an even bigger step and signed up to deliver a 2 minute pitch in person at the Western Arts Presenters Conference (westarts.org) which is in Long Beach CA the end of August. This will be a real challenge for me and extra inspiration to be able to articulate what we offer audiences in our show. One of my favorite quotes is "Talking about music is like dancing about architecture" but I'm going to put that aside since people need to know what they're hiring and what to expect.
So I felt good about pitch week.
I'm still writing my 5 successes every day, and actually this was especially helpful this week because it was one of those weeks when everything seemed to go wrong and sometimes it was 11:30 pm and i felt like I only had 4 successes, so knowing I was going to write them down spurred me on to complete that ONE MORE THING that could bring me closer to my goals.
Friday, July 09, 2010
Music Success in Nine Weeks: Irish fiddler starts the Ariel Publicity blog contest
Today I'm starting the "Music Success in Nine Weeks" Blog Challenge. The book is written by Ariel Hyatt, who is a Cyber PR expert (Arielpublicity.com) and the challenge is to complete each chapter in the book and blog about it (the winner receives a publicity campaign from her company).I decided to take the challenge because I knew having deadlines and making a public statement would get me to actually do everything in the book, which is really the point (if any of you like to sit on the couch eating chips and watching programs on healthy eating, you know what I mean).
So here goes...
Chapter one is all about Getting Mentally Prepared. Setting goals!
I've read just about all the literature out there on goal setting, so I'm familiar with the stats (writing them down means your 10x more likely to achieve them/give dates and write them as if they're already happening etc. ).
So today I started on my list of 6 focus areas (the book offers several suggestions) and I went to Staples to get a notebook and colored pens so I can write them in pretty colors and post them all over. That was the fun part, especially because Staples has finally added a deep purple (my favorite color) to their color palette. Somehow writing in purple gives me confidence that my goals are reachable!
I did get a little overwhelmed on the lifetime goals - thinking about what you'd like to do in your whole life really brings up some complicated questions (why are we here, what is my purpose in life? how long am I going to live?), but luckily there are also short-term goals to balance those. When I started making my lifetime list (play music in Africa, hear Dolly Parton in concert, to name a few), I realized that it does help you see if your daily actions are going anywhere near that direction.
As far as the short-term goals, one of the things as an artist that we all need to do is "build a fanbase" (How many times have we heard that!), and my other more personal goal is to balance the music business work with the being-an artist/creating-part so I'll just start by announcing two of my goals...To be done by August 6th)
1. It is August 6th 2010 and I have 1,000 contacts on my reverbnation page (those come from everywhere - facebook, twitter, myspace etc. ) Notice I finally figured out how to put the reverb widget on my sidebar so you can sign up there...
and 100 subscribers to my Fanreach newsletter which goes out once a month.
2. It is August 6th 2010 and I have written 2 more tunes to be licensed and scheduled a recording session to record them.
There it is, DID IT! I now have two of my goals officially in the universe for everyone to see.
The last thing I wanted to say about Chapter One of the book is that you're supposed to write down 5 positive things you do every day and keep them in a notebook. Two of them need to be career related, but you can include other things like exercising, etc. Not sure if getting up in the morning counts...
The day has only just started, but my first success is that I started the contest and am feeling hopeful and inspired to navigate that complicated creature called the music business.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Celebrate Fairfax: Cady and VIta go to Virginia!
- Vita and I played at this festival in Virginia called Celebrate Fairfax and this is a video of the event ..see Vita with the Camel, the rides, the carnival and if you watch past the closing credits, you'll see what I think of the new McDonald's frappe....
- After Fairfax, we went to DC and did a little quick video by The White House. Very quick! I'll let you know when that's one up
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Live show: Cady & VIta play reels at Sound Off for Haiti
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/7599745/20163532
Thursday, April 01, 2010
House Concerts: the new trend
It's April first and I could not have asked for a more beautiful day in Brooklyn.
Vita and I did our first duo house concert last weekend, and it was a lot of fun. I've heard about house concerts, but except for the African drum/fiddle moment I did in DC years ago, I've never done one. My image was that they are geared to singer-songwriters, but having had such a nice experience, I will probably do more in the future. We were on a double bill with artist Steve Robinson (stellarob.com) and the best part was being able to listen to music with an audience that is really listening - I think that's a lost art these days and I loved that part. He sang one song called Every Minute that was about a guy who really loves his wife but doesn't really articulate it, saying "But don't let the silence fool you, my love is going out to you every minute of the day". It was very romantic and also so true... (we all know guys like that, right?)
The place had a little stage and spotlights and terrific sound, so it felt like the best of both worlds (intimate and also a concert setting).
House Concerts can be trickier in NYC (people live in apartments more than houses, noone has a zillion chairs...) but I now endorse them. It's like the new club but you don't have to be in noisy crowds, or wait in line, or buy x number of drinks....
I'm a member of Concertsinyourhome.com and Fran (who runs the site) has been encouraging house concerts for years. Well know I really know what he's talking about....
See photos of the concert here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertberkowitzrsbimageworks/sets/72157623628640313/
Vita and I did our first duo house concert last weekend, and it was a lot of fun. I've heard about house concerts, but except for the African drum/fiddle moment I did in DC years ago, I've never done one. My image was that they are geared to singer-songwriters, but having had such a nice experience, I will probably do more in the future. We were on a double bill with artist Steve Robinson (stellarob.com) and the best part was being able to listen to music with an audience that is really listening - I think that's a lost art these days and I loved that part. He sang one song called Every Minute that was about a guy who really loves his wife but doesn't really articulate it, saying "But don't let the silence fool you, my love is going out to you every minute of the day". It was very romantic and also so true... (we all know guys like that, right?)
The place had a little stage and spotlights and terrific sound, so it felt like the best of both worlds (intimate and also a concert setting).
House Concerts can be trickier in NYC (people live in apartments more than houses, noone has a zillion chairs...) but I now endorse them. It's like the new club but you don't have to be in noisy crowds, or wait in line, or buy x number of drinks....
I'm a member of Concertsinyourhome.com and Fran (who runs the site) has been encouraging house concerts for years. Well know I really know what he's talking about....
See photos of the concert here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertberkowitzrsbimageworks/sets/72157623628640313/
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Electric Green
It's Electric, It's Green and it's finally here!I think I might be entering this century because I'm actually doing a digital release. That seems to be the way music is going these days.
Although to be honest, I miss having something to open and look at and read the credits....am I the only one?
The inspiration for this project started one night at a GoGirls Event at Otto's. If you don't know Otto's, it's this total dive bar in New York City. They have funny cups and a photo booth.
Vita and I weren't sure how the trad Irish stuff would go over at Otto's, so we tried something new -an electric set, with Vita's salmon- colored guitar and wah pedal. Our set was a hit, and when we listened to the tape after (yes I did have an actual tape recorder!), we just had to go somewhere with this electric guitar/fiddle concept.
That's not to say that there aren't some of those beautiful acoustic tunes on there too. It's a mix!
Vita took his funky guitar influences, his North African rhythmic influences, some rock, some Rhumba and some of that pretty fingerpicking stuff. I wanted so badly to record something with the bagpipe and piper John Bradley came over and the "All set for St. Pat's" was born.
Vita thinks some of tunes could be in a cartoon, they do make you laugh.
We'll have a few samples at fiddleandguitar.com and then in March it will come out for real to online stores.
When I think of Electricity I think of all the usual things like lights. I also think about that electric feeling coming from the audience during a great show, and that electric feeling between two musicians who love what they do.
I hear it in our new cd, and I hope you do too!
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