2003-03-30 | 1:02 p.m.
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making music on my crap computer is difficult, time consuming, and frustrating. i don't know when this cd will be out. at this rate, maybe never. it really just depends on how long it takes me to get this track done.
the next few weeks bring a bunch of shows, like nobukazu takemura and cave-in and the beautiful mistake and ...and you will know us by the trail of dead. i can't afford $30 for ministry, which sucks.
2003-03-26 | 9:19 p.m.
capitalism has made it this way
well, the bowie benefit isn't going as planned, but we're working on it. i suppose the only concern right now is the delay. we'll get it finished. i'm convinced this is a viable scheme, though not a money-making one. it'll be cool putting out a cd, even if it's all crap music. well, phil, my partner in this (who played congas for his house diva friend last weekend), may have some good stuff, and he's trying to get the diva on board. i'll alert you all to when it comes out. it'll be cool.
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if you want to donate a track, i'm sure you could send it to me. no guarantees, no money.
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class tuesday was cool. well, our teacher opened with a speech about being aware of the world around us, drawing on his experience in vietnam and the recent capture of a support squad in iraq. those people weren't supposed to be that vulnerable.
then we discussed agents and managers and lawyers, and what to avoid. i have much more to learn on the subject, but i'm sure i can find books and advice about it here and there. kimo enjoys being helpful for the kids who really want to succeed. those of us who want to go somewhere.
i forget the rest, in specific. we did not have a quiz about following music, because the class asked questions and seemed concerned about knowing the material. there's some kid in who keeps falling asleep in class, then wakes up enough at odd moments to say something stupid. not to be mean, but he gets on my nerves. a lot of people ask questions specific to their own situations, questions that would be better asked after class.
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i forget if i wrote about last week's class. i'm not sure i did. derek sivers came in to talk to us. maybe i did mention that. he played for ryuichi sakamoto on one of his tours, and now runs cdbaby. when my pal phil and i put our compilation together we'll send it to cdbaby. it'll be cheaply done, and not well packaged, but it's a start. maybe we can make something of it. i have to remember to write up a minor contract about profit sharing and credits. get the dang thing copyrighted too.
2003-03-22 | 11:39 p.m.
CDBaby / Benefit For Bowie
i couldn't write about my class the other day, because the server here was down, but now i'm back and i've got a lot to say.
last tuesday derek sivers came to talk to us. he ran us through his experiences in the music industry, from being lucky enough to room with a guy who worked in a studio where ryuichi sakamoto recorded an album (which allowed this sivers guy to impress sakamoto with his guitar playing and subsequently go on tour with him) to applying for credit card processing permission so he could sell his solo cd on line. this latter expanded to include his friends' cds, and eventually became cdbaby.com. cdbaby is great.
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friday night a couple of my friends and i went to this store on ashland where they were having this thing called 'TranceZenDance'. our friend Phil was playing congas for this house singer. it was a great performance, though the whole thing was a bit more on the hippie side of things than i'm able to get into (all healing crystals and psychic readings and the like), but it was cool. the music was great.
afterwards phil and i drove out to the hollywood diner where we had an idea.
my friend Nikki has a cat. this cat is very ill. it may die. there's a surgical procedure that might be able to save the cat, but it costs about a thousand dollars--more than Nikki can afford.
the original idea was to stage a benefit concert for Nikki and her cat Bowie. we discussed the pros and cons of such a thing, and decided it would be expensive and logistically dificult, nearly impossible. the real moneymaker would be the compilation cd we could put out afterwards. then we said to ourselves, why not skip the show and just put out a benefit album. we'll sell it directly and on cdbaby. we'll get our friends and other people we know to donate tracks, and we'll give them limited exposure. our costs would be low, and our chances of making enough for Bowie's surgery would be slim, but it'd be fun to do.
so when you see the Benefit for Bowie cd on cdbaby, buy a copy. i won't guarantee the music (i haven't even heard it yet), but your money goes to a good cause.
