Publicity is a very tricky thing. And for it to be impactful, it has to be part of a much larger plan. In the past I have made the mistake of buying one ad in a magazine; having a wonderful journalist write a terrific article about me while I have no new CD to take advantage of the attention; hiring a publicist for a tour where I was the opening act and wasn’t really promoting anything but my appearance that one night in that one town.

I was on tour with Robin Trower. I hired a publicist for the whole tour. I was in every paper in every town on the cover of the entertainment section with a photo, often color. At the shows, I always interact with the audience. And I asked them if they saw the article. Their response? “What article?”

I always do a very popular morning show in a large Midwestern city the day of or the day before my concert. And I’ve asked the audience if they came because of my appearance. The answer has always been no. Now it’s possible that I just suck, …but then why would they keep having me back?

Here’s my take on publicity.

It has to be a part of an integrated plan to do something specific for you. Say you have a new CD out. Okay, you want airplay, you want articles in the papers and magazines, you want reviews, you want a tour, you want visibility and you want it over and over again.

One ad, one TV appearance, one article will have no effect. Unless you are already famous, most people are not even going to read the article that you get published. I have heard that in order for articles on an artist to have impact, the artist must be seen at least three times.

Unless you have an unlimited budget, the way to go is to not spend a dime until you have a plan in place. And the plan will be determined by the budget. To launch a national campaign is prohibitively expensive, so I suggest a two prong approach.

1. the internet. Internet stations to play your music; internet reviewers to review your music; internet sites to sell your music; a webpage dedicated to each project; a webpage dedicated to you as an artist; and a schedule of posts to your constituency…your fans.

2. pick your area. If you can’t afford national, go regional. If you can’t afford regional go statewide. If you can’t go statewide, go for your hometown. I know I keep harping on this but, spend your money where it will do the most good. And don’t spend it til all the ducks are in a row.

New CD; release party; articles wherever you can get them published in your chosen arena; airplay in that area; performing appearances in that area on stage and on the radio and local TV if you can swing it.

The important thing is for all this to happen simultaneously. That is the key. Without the coordination, you have no more impact that a pebble in a pool. A little splash that is gone almost as fast as it occurred.

Make a plan. Don’t release your CD until you have an airplay plan, a tour booked, an internet campaign in hand and ready to go and at least press releases to all the folks who might do you some good. Do it all at once. Do any one component by itself and you’ve wasted your time and your money unless you get really lucky. But don’t bet on it.

“I need some guidence from you: The woman I've been corresponding with obviously doesn’t deal with performers...which is rather alarming given that this is the opening of an arts center...so here's my trouble.

i'm not gonna have any amplification...and as yet, I don’t know what the stage set up is...specifically acoustics and backstage set up...

i've sent an email...that was a few days ago...i'm gonna send another one, but if I dont get to check out the place before the day of the event...any tips on how to handle playing when I can’t measure the acoustics before hand?”

In a situation like this, the best that you can do is to get to the venue as early as possible…even if you have to call her and ask if you can be let in early. I always arrive early and do as much time as I can on the stage where I’ll be performing. Gets you accustomed to the room and the space, so that you are more at home when you do the performance.

You are also dealing with someone who doesn’t have the kind of experience that you would like, so you are going to have to treat her gently. You don’t want to rattle her, or confuse her. You want to make her feel comfortable in the knowledge that you know what you are doing; you’ve done it before; and whatever you are asking for, you are doing because that will make for a better show.

Without being arrogant or condescending you need to communicate to her what would make for the best possible evening. If she’s new to all of this, then there are going to be gaffs and more than likely, the publicity for the event will not be comprehensive or impactful, so you have to handle some of that yourself as well. Just be diplomatic as you inquire as to what she’s done to promote the date, or who she’s hired to promote the date and then offer your assistance and if she’s up for it, your suggestions. But first back to the room.

Do your warm up on the stage exactly where you will be performing, in order that you can determine how alive the room is and how hard you are going to have to sing., which brings up a whole other problem.

When you sing without amplification the tendency is to sing as loudly as you can…this is a sure fire way to blow out your voice before your set is over. Make certain that you have done the proper warming up. Once my voice is warmed up, I can take it almost anywhere. I suspect that you will find that also true.

I discovered when I played bars, that while my first hour was difficult, the next two hours, were amazing. My voice opened up and my musicality was simple impeccable. I couldn’t get it wrong musically.

As for the set itself, with no amplification you really have to put it together in the most impactful way you can. But you must be careful, as you need all your chops to last the entire set. I have blown my voice out on occasion and there is not much you can do once your voice is gone. Radio mime is not very popular for a good reason.

You probably want to start the set with something both lively and short and then move into the quieter stuff building back up to a finale that is designed to knock their socks off and make them want to bring you back for an encore. So build the set so that you have someplace to go and then make certain that you get there.

I hope that this helps you, at least a little.

When I say I am going to practice, or go to the gym, or do taxes, or whatever, my brain starts looking overtime for any kind of diversion…thirst, head call, phone calls, hunger, cup of coffee, how bout a game of solitaire before I start? Anything to keep me from wandering in the studio and practicing, or sending out the notification for an upcoming date.

And my mind also starts trying to divert me…as tho it’s me and someone else in there. You don’t want to go for that run; you’re depressed; you don’t want to go to the gym; you don’t have to practice again today; you don’t have to write the blog so often…really, it’s amazing. And sometimes I actually get into a dialog, where I am talking back to myself. I shamefully admit this stuff in the hopes that when you too experience this incredible waste of your time and energy, you will know how to combat it.

Here’s what I do when I go for a run or to the gym. I have to get up, right out of the bed, relieve myself, put on my running clothes and then out the door. And the whole time I am doing the above, my mind is giving me reasons why I shouldn’t, can’t, mustn’t, don’t want to…do what I am doing.

You have to ignore those voices in your head. Most of the time they don’t have your best interests at heart. When you make a plan, the way to stick to it is to ignore those voices and to create some kind of schedule for what you are going to do. Don’t listen, and if you must listen, keep doing what you are doing even while the voices are telling you not to. Disregard them. And when they do convince you, as soon as you recognize it, go back to what you were trying to do.

People who work a straight job have a routine imposed on them and it actually makes it easier to impose other routines, like getting up an hour earlier and going for a run, or going to the gym. They already have to have some organization in their lives.

As artists, we don’t have that. We must create our own organization, our own routine, or else our lives get away from us; and the most precious commodity we have, time, is wasted. You can get back your wasteline; your chops; even your memory somewhat (take large doses of lecithin liquid gels); but you can’t get your time back. When it’s gone, it is gone.

So here is what I suggest. Make a list of the things that you must do every day, followed by a list of what you must do each week, followed by each month and then for the year. These are things that you must do. And this needn’t be a long involved list. For instance, gym/jog for health; one hour every day for practicing your instrument; one hour every day for emails, etc. Each week you must, say, call your parents, go to your post box, etc. Each month, you must…whatever. You get the idea. Fill in those things with your own personal commitments.

Then make another list of what you want to do, what you want to have happen, what you want to accomplish. This is your goal list. This is really important. Now integrate them. Allow time first for what you must do, then the things you can do, and finally the things you want to do.

You do need to see where you want to be, what you want to accomplish, and it also helps to put down where you are right now as well. Write that on a separate sheet of paper and then put that one aside to look at once a month or so. You will be able to gauge your progress from that sheet.

Lastly, don’t give yourself so many goals and tasks that it is so daunting that it paralyzes you. Start out with something you know you can accomplish. When you do accomplish it, your discipline self will get some strokes. And that will actually make you want to do it again.

You can’t just be disciplined. You have to become that way, one small task at a time; one small commitment at a time. You can do it. As for me, I haven’t practiced in three days, so I am re-taking charge once again.

It’s all we can do.

First of all, most of you have a cel phone, so be certain to keep your host or hostess in the loop. If the plane is delayed or if you are going to be later than you told them for any reason, let them know. If they are gracious enough to let you stay there, then they are gracious enough to alter their lives a little to accommodate your visit. Don’t hang them up.

Secondly, always bring a little something if you can. It doesn’t have to be much, just a demonstration that you were thinking of them before you got there. A bottle of wine, a bouquet of flowers, a book that you know they would like--just something. Whenever I don’t do it, I feel weird. It is a wonderful gift that they are offering, so demonstrate your gratitude.

Get to your space in their home and keep everything in that space. I have said this before but it is really important to remember and to put into practice. Keep Consolidated. This is their space and you are invading it. Think about how people behave in an elevator. They all make their space and move if someone gets too close. Magnify that need when you are their guest in their actual home and not just a space in an elevator. Keep Consolidated. This also helps when you are leaving, as you don’t have to go all over their home looking for all your stuff.

It has been my habit, whenever possible, to come in a day early for the gig. This is a perfect opportunity to take your host/hostess to dinner; someplace that they love or get them to pick the place. Make certain that you pay the check. Sometimes I actually excuse myself as though I am going to the bathroom and then corner the wait person and give them my credit card, so there is never any chance for your hosts to take over the bill.

If taking them to dinner is a bit much for your budget, then learn to cook something and do that for them. You buy the groceries and you cook it. People seem to love being cooked for in their own home. And there are lots of simple dishes that don’t take more than thirty minutes to prepare that are delicious. If you can’t find any, email me and I’ll give you some of my recipes.

If you start to read something in their library, even if it is a magazine, do not take it with you unless they invite you to do so. And then make certain that you mail it back with a thank you note. People are always amazed when I return a book, particularly through the mail. Most folks, just never return a book they borrow, but I pride myself on getting it back to them.

Bathroom etiquette is very important. If they have a glass shower door, make certain that you squeegee down the glass when you get out. If they don’t have a squeegee, then use a washcloth. And always use a washcloth when you are washing yourself in their shower. They don’t want to find your pubes on their soap; makes a bad impression, trust me.

Keep the door closed while you are in there and make certain that you can come out of there without embarrassing them; robe or pants and shirt. When you sit down in there, make certain the fan is on, or the window is open and if they have those dreadful little aerosol things, spray it. Just hold your breath, as they don’t do great things to humans. Numbs the olfactory senses I have heard. And make certain that you flush and that you don’t leave any paper floating in there. As the American Indians say, leave no footprint, particularly with caca on it.

Strip your bed of the sheets and pillowcases. Put all your dirty linen together with your towels and washcloth and bring it all down to the laundry room. Let them know it’s down there so that the washcloth or wet towels do not turn into living, stinky things.

Call them when you get safely to your next destination to let them know that you’ve arrived and thank them again for their hospitality. And send them a note. Email if you must, but an actual post is pretty great.

And finally, when you are bucks up, think about the folks that have helped you on the way. Just send them a basket of fruit or a wine and cheese basket; something to demonstrate your gratitude and something that arrives in their lives when they aren’t helping you. It will knock their socks off and they will always be glad to see you.

First let’s talk about the drive from Los Angeles to Sacramento. My plan was to leave at 9 am, but I left at 10:20, so I ran into traffic where I wouldn’t have if I had left on schedule. Secondly, there was a major accident on the 5 near Los Banos. If I had left on time, I would have been throught it and yes, it’s true I had no way of knowing there would be a major pile up, fire and 5 closed, but the point is, I gave myself a schedule and disregarded it and paid the price. An extra three hours driving (and at four dollars a gallon here in California, that’s substantial).

    1. Make an informed, expedient plan and then stick to it.

Secondly, when I got the the house concert venue, I decided to unload everything and set it up the night before the concert, as I had a 9 am live radio show on KVMR to do. So I put all my posters, mailers, CD’s, postcards, etc in the room where the concert was to be held. Needless to say, when I got to the radio station the next morning, I had no CD’s, no posters, no “nuttin” to give to the radio station or the DJ.

2. Do an idiot check before you go to a gig, a radio station, a meeting, …even the beach. Do the check.

The last time I played Santa Cruz, I left my glasses on the night stand at a friend’s home, because I put on my sunglasses (also prescription) when I started loading the car, so I never looked for, picked up or used my regular glasses. They had to overnight them to me…and that’s really going to endear you to your hosts. Well, I did it again in Sacramento. Exactly the same scenario. The first time, hey, things happen. The second time,…I’m just an idiot. And I did my idiot check without my glasses on, so I didn’t notice my frameless glasses, OR the case. Stupid.

Fourthly, I had planned the show around my new CD. I like to do all the songs from a specific CD in the first set and then during the “meet and greet” whenever anyone asks about a certain song, I just say that all the songs I sang are on this CD. It makes it so very easy for them to decide which CD they want to purchase. What I didn’t remember was that even though the CD, The Eternal Contradiction (www.jamesleestanley.com/eternalcontra.html) was not released until the end of June of 07, I already had copies with me when I last played the room in March of 07, so the audience that came mostly already had that CD.

If I had made set list when I was done with the show, or God forbid, made up a set list BEFORE the show, I could have just looked at it and then known which songs and stories to do this time. You see, with over twenty CD’s released, I can do a show from any of them. And if you have already done that show for that audience, why in the world would you do it again. I could have taken any of the songs from my other twenty CD’s and put together a different show…and sold them a different CD.

As it was, I did a show that I was very proud of and the audience seemed to genuinely love it…and then to a nearly sold out house, I sold only five CD’s…instead of 30. So my recommendation to you, and this should be touring 101, is to keep your set lists from every gig and when you return to a room, make certain that you don’t do the same songs from the same CD.

    3. Keep a record of your gigs, and the sets and look at them before you return to a room.

The easiest way to sell CD’s to your audience is to do the bulk of the songs in the first set from one CD. In the second set (which is always my favorite—I’m warmed up and tuned and so is the audience) you can be more spontaneous and adventurous. Now of course you can do this in the first show, but if your second priority is selling the maximum CD’s, then do yourself a favor and make it easy for them to make up their minds.

If you do any song from any of your CD’s and then have to tell each person who comes up that this song was on this CD and that song was on that CD, then you are going to spend too much time explaining yourself and too little time getting your music into their homes, cars and hopefully, their hearts. And frequently, the audient can’t make up their minds, so they buy NOTHING. And though they say that they’ll do it on line, or at a store (if any are left), the truth is that they don’t.

If you sell them a CD, then the next time you come to town, there is a good chance that they will come and see you again. That’s the cool thing, to build an audience of people that not only love you, but with whom you have a relationship. It’s so much more rewarding than the anonymous twenty five cities in thirty days tour.

So there are a few more tips from someone who considers himself a pro, but still makes those amateur mistakes. It is very humbling being me.

In any event, as I was driving, I began setting up the show in my mind; which songs I would do, what I wanted to talk about, and I realized that I have been doing radio shows for over forty years and that putting yourself together for such a performance is second nature to me. So I am going to lay out to you what I do to prepare for a morning radio show. And the preparations for an afternoon or evening show are essentially the same.

When I have an early morning radio show (which happens more times than not on the day of the gig), I make certain that I get to bed in enough time to have seven hours of sleep, so gage your retiring hour by when you have to get up.

When you do a show in the evening, you’ve had all day to loosen up your vocal chords and to get everything flexible and ready. When you wake up exactly the opposite is true.

For me to sing early in the morning, I have to get up even earlier in the morning, by at least two hours. Take a really hot shower and get that steam into your lungs and vocal chords, that helps loosen them up.

I also eat something before I sing. I know that you are not supposed to do that and I usually follow that for my concerts, eating not closer than three hours to the show is my habit (that of course, floats with circumstance, but that is the goal for evening shows).

For some reason, if I eat in the morning, it helps open up my voice for singing. I don’t understand why, I only know from experience that this is so for me. You’ll have to experiment to find what warms up your voice the fastest.

In the car, I put on CD’s of mine and I choose the songs I’m going to sing before I put the CD’s in. And I sing those songs, and I go through the fingering of the guitar in my mind. I do the performance in my head.

I also decide what I want to talk about and I make certain that that is included in the interview. If it’s to promote a show, then I make certain I mention all the pertinent info in the beginning of the interview and again at the end. I also make certain that my website contains all the viable info, so that folks can go there instead of risking their lives while they are driving, writing down the venue phone number.

If you can’t remember this stuff, write it down. Give yourself some crib notes, so that you can refer to them during the interview.

If it’s an album that I’m promoting, I make certain that I have copies of the CD, posters, fliers, post cards…whatever promo I have that I can leave behind. That’s important to the process. It leaves a visual reminder of you behind for the interviewing DJ and the other DJ’s as well.

And also decide on some amusing anecdote that you can share. Being funny on the radio is even more impactful than the singing. Everyone wants to have a good time and if you are having a good time, then they are more likely to want to spend more time with you…at your show.

Arrive at least 45 minutes before interview time.  Ask if you can have a room to warm up in.  They are accustomed to this and will have someplace for you to warm up. Bring in everything you need and check it off before you settle in.   Play your instrument and sing until they ask you to come into the studio.    

After you are back home or at your hotel, send the station and the DJ a note thanking them for the time and the interview. It is just common courtesy and it goes a long way.

So in a nutshell: plenty of rest, warm up voice, choose material, bring promo material, doo and bring crib notes, and thank the folks. See you on the radio.

I remember sitting in a movie theatre with my wife, watching a film called Shakespeare In Love, starring Gwenneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes. It takes place in England in the sixteenth century. Gwenneth Paltrow portrays a young girl betrothed to an older man. They are trying to pawn this off on us as being disgusting and reprehensible but, as a sixty one year old man, I didn’t really see what the problem was.  Obviously, this fellow had been around long enough to know what a treasure she was and could appreciate her.       Seemed reasonable to me, …but I digress…

So she sneaks off to London (I guess it’s London?) and the theater, where she runs into young Wil Shakespeare and in not time at all not only becomes his muse, but enamorata and they end up doing the only dance there is all over the theatre.

Now to be perfectly frank, I’ve never been attracted to boyishly figured women. I have always thought that the rubenesque women were more alluring, so I wasn’t expecting Gwenneth to have much affect on me with her slender body, but…

When she was up on that screen and she was forty feet across, well, I tell you it was working for me. I felt…moved. And in this one particular scene, après the “dance” as it were, they are lying there gazing into each others eyes and she takes her hand and puts it on his cheek, caresses him and says, “this is our stolen season.”

Wow, I thought. What a great idea for a song. I mean, think about it. A tryst being described as a “stolen season”. I loved it. I can’t believe I never thought of that. I mean, if you are sleeping around, you’re just a slut, but… if you are having a “stolen season”, well hey, it wasn’t your fault.

It was bigger than the both of you. You were swept away by an avalanche of poetry. “It wasn’t my fault, honey, it was a stolen season--that avalanche of poetry, see?”

You have to appreciate the value of this phrase, the cleverness of it, the sheer joy of an excuse? This has got to be a song, I thought, so I took that phrase and the song practically wrote itself.

And that’s what it became on my acoustic duet CD with Peter Tork “Once Again” and fully produced on my "Traces of the Old Road" CD, and in fact, I just rerecorded and remixed that song another time because I loved it and I wanted it to do some stuff it didn’t do on the original recording.

As for the stolen season, everyone should have a “stolen season” once in a while. I sincerely wish you all a stolen season…soon. (Looks at his watch) I mean really, really soon. Meanwhile, here are the lyrics:

And in our stolen season, your feet won’t touch the ground

It’s a ferris wheel that’s spinning hearts and minds around

And the heights will make you dizzy and take your breath away

In our secret stolen season there is just today.

But when you’re lost in loving time will not stand still

Each hour seems a second, each shadow touch a thrill

And each kiss will leave us breathless as our two hearts beat as one

In this secret stolen season in the shadows of the shadows of the sun

And in our stolen season, our world within a world

It’s a simple act of love between a boy and girl

No yesterdays can find us and tomorrows can’t begin

In our secret stolen season in the space between what is and might have been

But all too soon it’s over and the world spins back in place

From our secret stolen season, from our state of grace…

And in to every day and night, some magic weaves its spell

It’s a secret stolen season and we cannot tell

If there’s a way of knowing what is lost and what is gained

From our secret stolen season, where our hearts remain…

Words and music by James Lee Stanley @2002 the real james lee Stanley music, sesac

And that simple question is, “what do you want to have happen?”

I think it’s the most useful thing I came up with out of all the tips, experiences and recommendations I have made available to you. This question is so germane to our existence, it literally applies to every single thing you do. Your wife starts ragging you about something you promised to do and it’s easy to answer with exasperation, impatience, or annoyance, but if you ask yourself that question, then the right path simply opens up before you. Think about it. Put yourself in any situation and then apply this question.

A non responsive booker, agent, business, …whatever; before you respond to the situation ask yourself what you want to have happen. If you have some bozo on the phone with attitude, of course it’s going to feel great to let them have it…and then they hang up on you and you have to start all over again. The true satisfaction and the true easiest path is to consider what you want the outcome to be and then act accordingly.

If you hate booking yourself, but can only get dates if you book yourself then what can you do? What do you want to have happen? You want work. What’s that going to take to make happen? It’s as obvious and inevitable as gravity. And who in his right mind fights gravity? It’s a force of nature that you learn to work with. Make the calls, send the emails. Just give yourself a specific time to it, and a specific time span. Then do it again the next day in the same schedule. It will be come easier all the time. Push ups get easier the more you do them, and pretty soon, you not only look good from doing them, you like doing them. Life is weird.

There you go. Learn to work with what the world is throwing at you. You can’t change any other aspect of the experience except the way you react to it. You practice your instrument so that using it gets to be second nature. It’s the same with this. Make this a part of your thought process and life will simply get easier for you. And there is this thing called momentum. As things begin to unfold for you, people show up to help it unfold faster. It’s another law of nature. Everyone loves a winner. Everyone finds it easier to be part of the wake of a ship that’s going somewhere.

Sit down by yourself and apply this question to your simplest task and then expand the circle. What do you want to have happen this morning; this afternoon; this evening; this week; this month; this year; this decade; this lifetime. Apply it to the whole arc of your existence. To do so actually gives you optimism and hope. This is another take on the setting goals approach, but it is more immediate than “someday I’ll win a grammy” kind of goal.

A situation arises. You want to respond with whatever you are feeling. Will this help? Most times it will not. Take the step back, take a deep breath and ask yourself, “what do I want to have happen here?” and if you don’t know, then cop to it. Say that you most think about this before you respond. If someone demands an answer right now, simply reiterate that your answer is that you must give it more thought. That you know your response is important and impactful and that you must give it the consideration it deserves.

I am going to look around this room right now and ask myself that question. Then I’m going to act on it. How about you?

The film started out with the songs from his Prairie Wind CD, one which I do not own. I was utterly prepared to hear an artist thrilling me. It didn’t happen. This is probably going to sound egotistical or at least enrage a lot of people that I care about, but…

The songs for the first hour were so uninspired, I could hardly believe that he wrote them. I thought that perhaps I was simply turning into a curmudgeon or that he was too old to do his songs justice, but wten he did “I Am A Child”. What a fantastic song. Original, melodic and poetic; a song that would have worked if it came out today. It was simply great. A great song done in his own inimitable style.

He then did several of his older songs and even Harvest Moon, a song which was pleasant enough when it came out, but sounded truly wonderful that night. I liked it so much better than I knew I did. And I realized that the older songs weren’t better because they were familiar, they were better because they were better written.

It got me to thinking about songwriting in general and his work in particular. The Prairie Wind songs had lazy lyric choices, false rhymes and just not a lot of the artistry of so much of his previous work. I have always looked to him and a few other artists as inspiration for me. The chances they take, the growth they continue to display as musicians and composers,…and poets.

The upside is that Neil still takes all kinds of chances with his writing, performing, arranging, etc and that is truly inspirational and, for me, thrilling. Where I become confused is the part where one must put your new songs up there next to your old songs. How do they sound? How do they resonate? Would the new songs have broken you as an artist? I know that I don’t succeed everytime, but that’s what I’m thinking and trying to do every time I write a new song. You can’t continually top yourself, but you MUST try.

Perhaps when you are as deservedly successful as he is, you have no one to point out to you that it’s possible that this new song sucks. The audience can become so psychofantic that you cannot depend upon them to give you a true reading of what you are doing. They can get so that they just seem to love everything that you give them, when it is your incredible success and your fame that is now driving the train.

All I know is that there were no songs that I heard of the Prairie Wind selections that thrilled me, not the playing, not the writing, not the poetry.

It’s easy to just say whatever you want, whether it actually meters or rhymes, but for me, the true art comes when you manage to do all that and you do it in the framework that you created. To disregard that cannot be freeing and thrilling if what you say is a powerful truth or poetic art, but to disregard it and just put whatever comes out on the page, seems like something that we should not expect or accept from the people we regard as masters of the craft.

That being said, I’m still a huge Neil Young fan, just disappointed …this time.

What I am trying to convey is that we, none of us…not you, not me, not Neil, should get lazy in the creation of our art. We may not make it to the winner’s circle, but we’ve always got to try our best. Everytime you write a song, do a show, make a recording, do it like this might be the last thing that you ever do on earth. You will be rewarded for that effort, I promise you.

Friday night was a club in the inland empire that I always enjoy playing, the Fret House (www.covina.com/frethouse/). It was, however, an up hill battle to get folks in there. They usually only have music on Saturday nights and people just don’t think to go there on Friday nights. And the other snafu was that they somehow left the date off of their mailer. It was on their internet calendar, but not on the flyers and mailers that they distribute. And finally it was also supposed to be a Batdorf & Rodney show, but Mark didn’t make it, so I filled in with some All Wood and Stones with John.

We did a fun show for the small but appreciative crowd, and even did some CD sales, which I wasn’t expecting, as I thought they all had everything we did. The sound was fantastic. Good monitors, good house, good line of site and even ease of parking. It remains for us to put a goodly crowd in there. But it’s always a joy to play there. It is in the tradition of McCabes. A music store and a concert hall and has been doing it for decades.

Saturday night was Renee Bodee’s house concert series (www.jrp-graphics.com/bodiehouse/index.html). This was also supposed to be a Batdorf & Rodney date, but Mark didn’t make any of the shows that weekend, which is why I was sitting in. Renee has been doing this for eight years and like her counterpart and dear friends down the road Russ and Julie Paris (www.houseconcerts.us/houseconcerts.html),

she knows how to put together a house concert that is perfect for the performer and the audience. There really is no substitute for experience and the sold out audience that night really knew what could happen at a concert, and they did all they could to make that happen. Coupled with our enthusiasm and expertise, it was a magical evening for us all. Though we didn’t have monitors, the speakers were right next to us so that we could hear what we were doing. It was a perfect evening and lots of people took home the music of John and I, both individually and together.

Sunday evening was an early show at Bob Stane’s Backstage@the Coffee Gallery (www.coffeegallery.com/home.html), always a fun place to perform. This is not Bob’s first rodeo, as he founded and operated the Ice House in Pasadena for decades and ran it as one of the premier rooms in the country. Everyone who is famous played there at one time or another. After being retired for about six minutes, Bob decided to get his feet wet again and opened this intimate concert venue in Altadena.

For the audience, it’s a perfect place to see and hear their favorite performers. It sounds good and there is good line of site no matter where you sit. And we had a sold out show of truly wonderful folks who let us do what we do. That’s the kind of audiences that Bob has created for his room and that is the biggest plus for any venue.

For the performers (at least this performer), it’s a somewhat difficult room to work because of the placement of the speakers and the fact that there are no monitors. I still love working there and hope to continue to do so frequently, but I literally can’t hear what I’m doing up there and because of the lack of monitors, I can never do a lot of the stuff that I love doing in my show.

The use of effects, which I play into, to create layers of sound and groove, not to mention my looping box, that allows me to record sound on sound live in front of everyone. I usually use that effect at the end for the FINALE impact, but I’ve never been able to use any of it at the Backstage because of the absence of monitors. The speakers are placed up and away from the performers and are surrounded by what appears to be bags of grain, so to us on stage, the sound is muffled and so far away that I cannot use my effects at all, as I can’t play with them…speed of sound and all that.

So what you can see is that every night is different, every stage is different, every audience is different and there is always something with which you have to deal except on those rare evenings when every single thing just falls into place. We play hundreds of gigs hoping that that happens again.