The Hollywood Mixer - Pain or Pleasure?

I went to the NARIP Mixer in North Hollywood the other night.   First mixer I had been to in years.    I only went because I was hooking up with a new music agent and wanted to give him the All Wood and Doors CD (in case you just got here, it’s a CD  I did with Cliff Eberhardt—all acoustic guitar and voice versions of classic Doors songs.   We also had the added blessing of both John Densmore and Robby Krieger of The Doors playing on it.   It is definitely a very cool CD).

I was not expecting anything and I wasn’t expecting to stay long, as there has always been a little too much “NOTICE ME, DAMMIT” vibe to those Hollywood Mixers.

But this one was somewhat different.   First of all, Tess, who started it, knows how to put people at ease and she knows how to connect folks.   She is very cool herself.

I met her in the parking lot as we both arrived at the same time.  She introduced herself, ushered me into the room and began introducing me around.  

None of that sitting in the corner wondering how you are going to talk to anyone in this crowd.   She made me feel right at home.   I relaxed and just talked to folks and finally found my man, Peter.

He was talking to a long haired fellow as I came up and he introduced me to Sam;   a pleasant fellow.    We seemed to hit it off enough to where we didn’t think that we were sizing each other up as to what one could do for the other –which is the plague of these things usually.

Then I break out the All Wood and Doors CD and give it to Peter.  Sam asks about it and when I tell him what it is, he says he’d love to hear it.

So I’m thinking that I’ll get his address and send one over to him, if I remember.

That’s when Peter just hands him the copy I brought for him.  What?   He just hands it over to some stranger?   Guess he doesn’t really think that much of what I do.

Then Peter proceeds to tell me that Sam is the music director for SIX prime time network TV Shows.

Wow, I thought.   This is already the most productive mixer that I have ever been to.  And we are talking decades of these things.   Always trying to appear like I wasn’t desperate to have someone use a piece of my music in something.

After a drink order, I meet Marvin, who as it turns out, was a member of Lone Justice, one of my favorite bands of the 80’s.   And we talked about trying to write something together.

Before we can even finalize it, Tess comes over with a fellow named Steve who is looking for some songwriters to do co-writes.   Marvin and I dive in and sure enough, we make some appointments to do just that.

Now I realize that nothing as permanent as hard cash showed up, but the OPPORTUNITY for it to happen most definitely showed up.  

So my advice is, go to these mixers.  Meet people and have a good time; show some interest in the other person and see where it goes.  Don’t look for work, look for connections with folks that you would enjoy being connected to.

The work will show up on it’s own.

Very fun evening.

The Pain of Practice

I had a post from a friend regarding his practice.  I advised him to practice some every day rather than two hours  once a week.    Practicing every day will bring your faster results than that once a week stuff.

So in his enthusiasm he evidently decided that two hours were better than one and three hours were better than  two…I think you can follow the exponential tragedy that ensued.

He has tendonitis in his left hand.

The pain is so excrutiating that he cannot even type, and self abuse is out of the question.

Quick to the rescue I recommended that he put peanut oil on the complaining joints.   This is not a cure but it is an immediate remedy for the pain.

I didn’t know that he was allergic to peanuts.

So here’s what I am recommending going forward.    Regarding practicing it truly is better to practice every day than once a week.   That being said, if you are not already in a practice regimen, I suggest that you ease yourself into the hour a day routine. 

Start with fifteen minutes of playing things you are unfamiliar with.   Use chord charts or tablature, but do things you do not know how to do.   Believe me the fifteen minutes will seem like an hour til it’s done and then you can’t believe that it’s over.

Do that for a week then up it to twenty a day for a few days and see how you feel.  

As you gain in strength and muscle memory, you can increase to whatever amount of time you are comfortable with and that you can set aside to do that.

If you just jump in and play two hours the first day, you’ll find that the next day you cannot make a fist or even flip someone off who just cut in front of you on the freeway.   As a matter of fact you can barely grasp the steering wheel for the pain.

The idea is to AVOID the pain.    I know the “no pain, no gain” thingy, but that really is about lifting heavy things.   Your guitar should not be too heavy (that’s why I gave up my beautiful Les Paul—it was giving me scoliosis).

Now I won’t lie to you, when you start the guitar there is going to be pain, but if you stick with it the pain subsides and finally you’re just playing music.

And after that, why, the sky’s the limit…untold wealth, celebrity, gratuitous consequence free hot monkey love; why the possibilities are endless…

The Artist As Whining Ingrate

I spoke with my pal Derek today.   He was the manager of Styx from their nascency to the stadiums.   He knows this business.

I was talking to him about how discouraged I was by the audience response last Tuesday night.   That the other artists sold CD’s and I sold nothing; the first time in my life that has ever happened.

Here’s what he had to say:

“Not everyone is going to like what you do, get use to it.”

I have always known that but for some reason I keep forgetting it.   Everything I’ve ever learned in life, I’ve had to learn again.

Then he went on to say nice things about  me…

“You have become a remarkable guitar player over the past few years and you are a very gifted vocalist.   You have gobs of talent, but don’t forget that talent doesn’t really matter in the music business.”

That was the one that floored me.  

In today’s music market, talent is not important?   Practicing to become better at your instrument doesn’t matter?   It’s image and youth?

But really it’s always been image and youth since I got into the biz.   ButI thought it was a triangle and the third side was talent.  

Though if you go back and listen to some of your favorite songs from then, you may be disappointed in some of them, while others will stand out like beacons.

I was reading about Dick Clark and his troubles with Congress in the ‘50’s due to the fact that he owned publishing companies and record companies and he played the music from those companies more than he played stuff he didn’t have a piece of.  

So it’s always been that way.

Derek went on to say that I have lived my entire life paying attention to life and not so much to career.   He said that I have always been committed to having an interesting and stimulating life.  

And I guess that’s true.  I’ve done a million things from Chinese Linguist in the USAF to the Singing Klingon in Star Trek / Deep Space Nine, all the while writing songs and playing my music and having a truly grand time.

I’ve recorded some twenty seven—yes 27!—recordings that have all received critical acclaim, radio airplay and I’ve been on tour with everyone from Bonnie Raitt to Robin Williams.

And I’ve gotten to do what I wanted—play music—my entire life.   And what is most amazing is…

I’m still doing it.

He’s right.  I’m blessed and lucky and have a beautiful life, wife, and home.    Just because I’m not getting the “perks” I think I’m due, doesn’t mean squat.  

I was whining the other day and I’m embarrassed I did it.   But I’m leaving it up there to remind me what an ungrateful ass I can be.

Think about your own life…what you’ve done; the choices you’ve made; where you are right now.

Is it so bad or did you have a damned good life so far?

That is what matters.   That and making sure that everyone you love knows it.

As Artists, Are We Deluding Ourselves?

I had a sobering and interesting experience last night.   Drove down the coast to play a songwriter night showcase.    Three songwriters, each with a thirty minute slot, and a host who preceeded us with some very original and interesting music and a few rearranged cover songs.   She was fun.

It was a noisy room, a bar with a pool table in the back.   The patrons , many of whom were facing the stage, were a little talkative; the bar and the bartender more so, and the yahoos in the back pool room were desperately  trying to get noticed, even by people in the next building,  so it seemed that, on the whole, it was not going to be a listening crowd.

I began my set and in no time, you could hear a pin drop.   They seemed to be genuinely enjoying my music, so much so that they put their own social needs on hold.   I was thrilled and sort of honored.

I played a thirty minute set I was almost proud of,  and received a resounding ovation (having muffed one of my favorite guitar parts on my favorite song was unforgiveable to me and that put a damper on the set for me).

Afterwards people came up to me and told me how fantastic I was, but not one person bought a CD—no one.   Not to sound arrogant, but I was surprized and a little stunned as this has never happened to me before.   

There was about a ten minute change over and a lovely woman came up with an extra guitar player and began to sing her songs.   While her voice was wonderful, I found her songs were derivative of songs you already knew and she played only rudimentary guitar.   I think I would have enjoyed it more if just the accompanist was the only player.    

The melodies were so familiar and reminiscent of other songs that I found that I was trying to name the song that she had gotten her song from.   That distracted me and made me a little uncomfortable.

All the songs were about heartache, heartbreak and betrayal, every single one of them.   I tend to want to hear a variety of topics.    She tried to make some jokes about it, but unfortunately they weren't very amusing.  Very lovely voice though.

She came off stage and people flocked around her and bought CD’s.   Amazing, I thought.   

The next ten minute change over took thirty five minutes.   

I believe that when you participate in these things, you come early, you watch all the acts and you leave when the show is over.  So I was committed to the evening.  This third songwriter didn’t show up until it was almost time for him to go on and then took his time setting up.  

We’re talking a single player with two guitars sitting in a chair.   Thirty five minutes to set up.

This is where my agenda began to kick in.   I had a 90 minute drive ahead of me and I was hoping to leave by 11 as I had gotten up extremely early that morning.   Consequently I did want this show to run like a German train schedule.    That clearly wasn’t happening, so I ‘ll cop to the idea that I was getting less receptive to this Johnny come lately.

However he was a very evocative though simple player and his guitar sounded great.   His songs were all in the country blues or blues vein and were either covers of songs you knew or songs he had written in that traditional blues genre that for me tend to be repetitive of each other.

I enjoyed the first couple of tunes.   One was very provocative.   Something about Lincoln and how the truth brings you John Wilkes Booth.   It didn’t really say anything to me, but it seemed like it did.

That being said, I  was entertained by the first twenty minutes of his thirty minute set.   He set up an ambiance that I sincerely admired and enjoyed.    When he extended the set for another thirty five minutes; that’s when I began to feel put upon.  

We were all observing the time we were allotted, but somehow he felt that didn’t apply to him?  I also knew that his indulgence was infringing on my desire and ability to leave.   So my agenda was kicking in. I hadn’t been paid and my equipment was still up there by the stage.   I couldn’t get my things and leave without it being observed as a judgment on his set or just plain rude.

Here is what you must remember when you are doing these sorts of sets.   A schedule has been set up that accommodates and considers everyone.  When you abandon that you may cause problems for the other folks on the showcase.    This isn't a concert, it is a showcase.  Be considerate.

The audience kept getting smaller and smaller, though when he finished, the people who did stay flocked around him and bought CD’s.   Amazing, I thought.

After waiting another twenty minutes, I finally received my stipend and with no CD sales of my own, pocketed a modest fist full of dollars and drove home.

Adding to my irritation and discouragement, the freeway was closed and I had to do a ten mile detour through city streets before wending our way back to the freeway, which added another thirty minutes to my drive home.

And all the while I’m thinking, “Why did I sell NO  cd’s, while the other two acts sold three or four each?   What should I have done or changed to reach that audience?”  

It has been my experience that on most nights I can sell half the room a CD, but last night zilch.    And according to the folks who came up to me, I was extremely good.   The bartender would not let me pay for anything, shook my hand repeatedly and several times asked if I was coming back.

Thinking about how I didn’t reach that audience and how the other acts did, I was so temporarily discouraged by the whole evening that I thought about not doing this anymore.

You start questioning yourself when you  think that you sing your buns off, play your buns off  and chose material that has consistently been well received only last week and still have no impact on the new audience.

You start to wonder why you are practicing and trying your damnedest to write something  that matters, that resonates, that is art and that is original if, in fact, it is not having that effect.   At least it didn’t last night.   

If all the crowd wants is what it has already heard then how do you explain the Beatles?   And if the crowd only wants what it has already heard then, what?-- I guess you just do it for yourself?

If it is all just for yourself, I suppose that is okay, but I didn’t need to drive two hours in rush hour yesterday to present myself to strangers.  I could just stay home and do it for me.  Why did I do it?

So the question becomes do you hone your craft, work to elevate your art just for yourself?   Or do you need that outside validation?  

Truthfully speaking, I know that I do need that validation.   Somewhere in me there must be a desperate need for approval that never goes away.   Where did that caca come from and why won’t it go away?  Perhaps that is what drives all performers.    Maybe all artists, I don’t know.

Those other two singer/songwriters thought they were really good and the audience last night did as well.    Not to be unkind but I thought they were all sort of deluding themselves.   Is that what I am doing?   Am I deluding myself?  Maybe they all thought I was?  Who’s to say?

Very fun questions at two o’clock in the morning.  They make it really easy to fall asleep.   NOT!

You As Fertile Soil - the Joy of Learning

I was talking to my pal, Derek Sutton, about my guitar playing and how much I love playing.  He mentioned that few people are lucky enough to have a passion that sustains them for their entire life.

I told him that it was up and down with how much I loved it but that when I took lessons the summer before last how it completely fired me up for the instrument all over again, just like in the beginning.

Just my point he said.   You care about getting better and many folks are not blessed with that kind of passion.

As I thought about it, I realized that,  yes I do care, and that I really do want to get better even though no matter how good you get, you always hear someone who makes you realize you’ve got a ways to go.

The point being you will never be satisfied.  That is the musician, probably the artist’s curse.

Everytime you think you are on top of it all, they move it.

But here’s the cool thing that also came to mind, how much I loved going to the guitar lessons.     Think about how you regarded any kind of lessons as a kid.   You hated it, right?

But it is entirely different when you take lessons as an adult.  Particularly if you already have some expertise on the instrument.

Trying to teach a child who is not all that interested is a joyless job at best.    But  you are not a disinterested child.   You already have an interest and a desire.

Consequently the lessons fall on you like seeds on fertile soil.    You soak it lessons and you do it faster than you ever thought was possible when you were a kid.

You are prepared soil.   You are ready to receive and ready to germinate the seeds of knowledge that you do receive.

Go take some lessons.  You will be utterly amazed at how much enthusiasm you bring to it and further how much joy it is take the lesson and to apply what you’ve learned.

I’m telling you, I’m in love with the guitar all over again.  And you know what?

Now I want more lessons.  I need to take from  some other folks.   I hunger for more.  You will too.

It is so very cool.