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  • Songstuff Writer and Artist Development Challenges

    By john

    Independent writers and artists face several large disadvantages when they are compared to signed, mainstream writers and artists.  Disadvantages that add up to making it a competition that indies can’t win. Hell they can’t even compete.   Lack of budget and poor contacts are fairly obvious disadvantages. Lack of experience and a lack of knowledge restricts songwriters and artists alike. Lack of an overall strategy, and a limited set of incomplete tactics, makes for a critical problem
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The Writer's Blog

Initial Thoughts On The Christmas Show...

Well, the November Failed Economy Show isn’t going to happen—can’t get a lead player. With the idea that we could maybe do a pre-Christmas show instead, I reserved the Dance Floor for Saturday, 19 December—six days before Christmas. John (bass) and Chris (drums) are both in. Now the question becomes whether I can nail down a lead player (or two) for that date. A Christmas show could be fun. We’d still make it a benefit for the food bank, but we can avoid (sort of) the “message” songs (o

roxhythe

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Dahlnotes

Jingling With Mischke

~ My first paid studio work tonight ~ Last week I called Mischke, so fired up about choir rehearsal I'd planned to leave a msg singing Latin hymns. However: he actually answered the phone! I said dang Tommy, now I cannot sing the Credo on your machine. He said, I just did this ad for "All Inc" and I'm thinking "female vocals." He gave me a link for the unfinished Youtube, I hit play/record on my little tape deck and recorded the ad via pc speakers ("children quiet, I'm re- co

Donna

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The Writer's Blog

Progress?

Had to do a quick reality check on how well I was doing as a writer this year. The answer is I’ve written eight new songs in ten months. (I’d have preferred ten, or an average of one a month.) I only count “keepers”; unless they’ve been played for, and requested by, audiences, they’re “forgetters,” and I don’t count them at all. Some on the list are better than others, of course. The Dog’s Song (pretty fast rock ‘n’ roll) Crosses by the Roadside (mod. slow two-step) Love Trails of t

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The Writer's Blog

Hallowe'en And "wizard Rock"...

Judging a high-school speech tournament is a lot like critiquing performers at an open mike (except one doesn’t usually get to critique the performers at an open mike). Whether it’s a prose or poetry recitation, dramatic interpretation, radio commentary, or after-dinner speech, it’s all performance, and I probably know enough about performance to give kids pointers about how to work a crowd. This will be the sixth year I’ve judged speech tournaments for my daughter’s high school (now her forme

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Dahlnotes

Electric Encouragment

People: Tom and Nancy Harkness & myself ~ Place: Cherokee Tavern, West St. Paul ~ Band: Steve Daly, Jason Kraft, Paco, the killer bassist whose instrument is really tenor sax. Tom asked me if I play electric guitar. I said no. He asked why. "All I have is an acoustic." Have I ever played an electric, though? Yes; I had one long ago, but I don't think it was a good instrument. He told me I should try; he told me I was precise on the acoustic, and

Donna

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The Writer's Blog

The Job Hunt (And Songs)...

The suit and the truck have gotten a workout this week. Job interviews Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, in Portland (90 miles away), Pendleton (150 miles further east), and Milwaukie (90 miles again). All state jobs; easiest (and poorest-paying) is Wednesday’s job, a lowly permit tech/secretary for the state liquor-control agency, and the most challenging (and most fun) is Tuesday’s, managing a state child-support office with a staff of 22 covering nine counties. Thursday, I get to have lunch

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Dahlnotes

Studio + Liturgy = Good Weekend (Family Pics)

Well now, there've been 2 double-header weekends in my sphere of late, all the best worlds, can't think of any better: a party w/ bands, jam, friends; a family party w/ about 40 relatives on the river; a studio session; and High Mass! Lola's B-Day Bash ~ St. Paul side of the River ~ Oct 11, 2009 My beautiful cousin Patrice Glendenning, and myself Ginger Glendenning, my beautiful cousin, and I. In the backround is Ginger's nephew Brian Glendenning holding niece A

Donna

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The Writer's Blog

Insomnia Coffee Post-Mortem...

Well, it has been a week (almost) of rejections. The fish hatchery in Trail hired someone else; so did a bunch of other state agencies that interviewed me. The newspaper’s auditors told them they should hire a business manager with an accounting degree, not accounting experience—not me, in other words. The last several city-manager jobs I applied for all went to people with degrees but no prior experience, too—it’s why I mostly don’t bother to apply for those jobs any more. And then ther

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The Writer's Blog

The Burlesque Show (&c.)...

As this is written, I am waiting for the Oregon Justice Dept. to tell me whether they want to have my job interview in Salem (where their headquarters is) or in Pendleton, 200-plus miles away (where the job would be). Don’t know when the interview will be, but I have another one Monday in Portland. And a job test in Portland tomorrow—I’ll drop off more posters for the Insomnia Coffee Co. gig in Hillsboro while I’m at it. All part of re-inventing myself, I guess. I think city management i

roxhythe

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The Writer's Blog

Jade Lounge Audition...

Setlist for the Jade lounge audition was: Hey, Little Chicken (sleazy quasi-blues) Dead Things in the Shower (mod. fast two-step) Sam & Melinda (slow & sleazy) Bungee Jumpin’ Jesus (mod. fast Gospel) Crosses by the Roadside (mod. slow two-step) The Termite Song (fast bluegrass) I’m Giving Mom a Dead Dog for Christmas (slow & sleazy) Almost exactly 30 minutes—and it showcased (in order, of all things) all the things I told the folks at Songstuff I wrote about: de

roxhythe

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The Writer's Blog

As It Gets Busy...

Well, I wanted to have stuff to do, didn’t I? I think I will be busy for a while. I have an audition at the Jade Lounge in Portland on Sunday (timed it so it’d be just after our Burlesque Troupe post-mortem, if it happens), the Insomnia Coffee Co. gig the following Saturday, a “proofreading test” to take for a state job Wednesday (yes, I’m driving 2-1/2 hours into Portland to take a test I know I’ll pass with 100-plus other people—times are hard). And, I think, another Failed Economy Show to

roxhythe

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The Writer's Blog

April's Other Song (And The Food Bank)...

April’s other song is done—“Family Photo.” A good old cheatin’-heart kind of song, but one where the woman leaves the cheater dude (and takes the kids and dog, too). One reason I like musicating other people’s songs is I get to address serious issues without having to write about them myself. I get to preserve my image as the guy who probably can’t take anything seriously (and then when I do write something serious—which I’ve done all of five times in 30-odd years—it has greater impact becaus

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The Writer's Blog

Musicating April...

I spent most of the day following our performance at the “Rocktoberfest” unable to get the songs on our setlist out of my head. I did hit on a solution, though. With nothing musical on the immediate horizon, and no immediate commitments except applying for more jobs I probably won’t get, now was the time to musicate something—fill my brain with a different melody, as it were. So April Johns’ “Sometimes Country Boys Get the Blues” finally got its music. It didn’t come out exactly like I e

roxhythe

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The Writer's Blog

"rocktoberfest" Post-Mortem...

The “Rocktoberfest” show went good. (I attribute it primarily to our being practiced.) No flubs (at least not any noticeable ones), and the few special tidbits—the stops for the bass runs in “Tillamook Railroad Blues” and the deliberately slowing-down last line in “No Good Songs About the War”—came off without a hitch, and made us seem uber-professional. Small audience, of course—one shouldn’t expect otherwise at 10:00 on a Saturday morning—but it included some folks I recognized, that I’

roxhythe

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The Writer's Blog

"no" From The Audition...

Back from southern Oregon… Almost an 11-hour trip, what with stops at the towing company to pick up the Big Yellow Tip Bucket (retrieved from the T-bird before they destroyed it) and buy a couple of spare tires (because I had a blowout on the way), and the audition at the Capitol Coffee House in Portland. It was a “no” from Capitol Coffee, and I probably should have expected that was going to happen. The reason the owner hadn’t been answering my e-mails was he really wasn’t interested in

roxhythe

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The Writer's Blog

Thoughts On The Road...

On the laptop... The laptop (no name yet) travels with me wherever I go these days, just like the cell phone. I have become appallingly 21st Century. Perhaps the pleasure of owning a 23-year-old froofrooless truck is compensation. The Wild Goose was fun; the crowd there got “Crosses by the Roadside” (prefaced with apologies for playing ‘em a serious song), Derek Hines’ “I Want to Come Back as a Stripper Pole” and–as a surprise for Gene Burnett–his “Things Are Getting Better Now That Th

roxhythe

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The Writer's Blog

I Have A Truck!

A riddle. What’s new and 23 years old? My truck! Paid for it and picked it up a day after insurance advised the crashed Thunderbird was a total loss (mostly because of its age) and they were sending me a check. A small check, but it’s enough to buy the truck—a 1986 Toyota Nothing Special, with lockable canopy (good), standard transmission (real good), a little rust (not good), the little engine that Toyota made for years and years and years (real, real good). Even has fishing rod racks, rif

roxhythe

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Songstuff Stuff

T-Racks 3 Deluxe Edition

T-RackS 3 Deluxe is the flagship mastering product from IK Multimedia. Billed as a considerable improvement on the previous version of T-RackS, T-RackS 3 claims improved metering, plus upgraded modules from T-RackS 2, and offers 5 new high-end signal processing modules. So What exactly does the deluxe version offer, and is it a worthwhile investment for your hard earned money when compared with the T-RackS 3 Standard Edition? Read the review of T-RackS 3 Deluxe Edition

Songstuff

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The Writer's Blog

"rotten Candy," "crosses" &c.

I had a song recorded by Polly Hager! You can hear her rendition of “Rotten Candy” at http://www.soundclick.com/share?songID=8163332. She has a lovely Ronstadt-esque singing voice that was perfect for this song. Larry Hazelbaker in Nashville plays guitar and mandolin on this, and did the recording. No, it’s not the sort of thing that has any money in it—Polly’s an independent writer, like me (though a whole lot prettier)—but with a voice like that, she’s going places. It’d be nice to provid

roxhythe

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The Writer's Blog

A Quick Burlesque Show Post-Mortem...

The Burlesque Show was good. Very good. If you attended, you know this. If you didn’t, be patient—I’m sure now there will be another one. The troupe will be doing a post-mortem Sunday, 4 October; I won’t be able to be there—I’ll be en route to the next job interview in southern Oregon, the state Fish & Wildlife one in Trail. I’m anxious to see the video (I understand it was videotaped as well as podcast). One reason I want to see the videotape is I want to see the crowd’s reaction

roxhythe

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The Writer's Blog

Burl3Esque Show In 2 Days...

JUST TWO DAYS till the Burlesque Show (I don’t count the day of the show—we’ll be doing a final dress rehearsal that day). In lieu of a program, we’re going to have a big 24x36 poster with our photos, Tarot cards, real and stage names, and functions in the show. I’m designing that. One more day to finish it in—Friday’s shot with a job interview in Salem, 90 miles away (and a 2-hour drive over bad roads). The good news on the job front is I got called for an interview at the Library. Not

roxhythe

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The Writer's Blog

A Quick Update...

The Burlesque Show will be okay, I think. Dress rehearsal today in Laurelhurst Park in Portland, and everybody seemed to know their lines, including me. We’ll do one more dress rehearsal, the afternoon before the show (Sept. 26), and that will be at the Hawthorne Theater itself. Recording was good, too. I continue to be impressed with this band. The songs we were familiar with—i.e., that have been regular inclusions at our gigs—were note-perfect the first time. Even “Rotten Candy,” whi

roxhythe

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