dayjobs for a musician: hell, or a necessary evil? September 5, 2008

i’ve really been putting off writing about dayjobs in here.  i have a secret fear that some boss will find this and realease me of my duties to their company; little ant workers like me are supposed to give the impression that they LOVE the work that they do.  and i’m good at letting my superiors think that. 

~

but truth?  well… most of the time, i don’t hate it.  i’d rather be doing something else.  something more creative.   it depletes me of necessary energy (especially of my line of work, temping, where i basically have to learn a new job every week) to do other things relevant to my “other career,” aka music.  actually, this week my nights haven’t been spent doing productive venue-searches, emailing, and uploading, like a good independent musican “should,” but have been soaked in red wine, cold medicine, and csi reruns (don’t try this at home, kids!), just do drown out the stress of the day so that i can get some actual sleep.

~

i always feel bad about goin m.i.a. for long periods of time from all my little sites… myspace, my blog, flickr, etc. but quite franky, my day job has been eating my soul lately. and not only have i given up on social networking in the last two weeks, i’ve also had to hold off on/ quit some little projects going on in real life, too. and that makes me sad. but i guess that’s the good thing about temping… it’s only temporary, right?

~

are you a musician/ artist/ writer/ etc.? do you have a dayjob, or do you make at least some part of your living off your art? if with dayjob, do how the fuck do you handle doing both? because it’s always been really hard for me. if you do make a significant portion of $ from art, any tips for a n00b like me? (well… i’m not exactly a n00b at music, just at making a living with it.)

day(s) in the life August 21, 2008

here are some pictures from a few weeks ago. while these pictures have nothing to do with music, they have to do with me. and i make music. and since i’ve gotten my new camera, i’ve decided i want to post some pictures about my day-to-day living. then when i get too embarrassed about it, or someone makes some negative comment, i’ll lock/ edit/ delete everything. like always

~

roberta’s pizza. empty on a saturday afternoon. it’s a 5 minute walk from my house here in bushwick. jessica, chris, matt, and i went for lunch.

~

jessica and i. (and max, my cat) i’m ready to conk out in this picture.

~

me & matt @ life cafe, the next day at brunch.

~

chris

~

the tables in the restaurant, which are filled with people’s postcards, flyers, and business cards (mine is in the bottom righthand corner!)

~

drool.

~

life cafe drink specials.

~

~

on the walk home, there were these dogs running around in a field. four of them. two dressed in the minnie mouse outfits, and two in the camo outfits.

~

moving on to another random day… harlem is a very interesting place. here are a bunch of styrofoam heads. 135th and lenox.

~

taken in a courtyard of a place i’m working at right now.

~

my feet.

~
in the back room @ the bitter end. with my friend louisa, who i was about to perform with.

~

louisa in action.

online strategies for chantilly 2.0 August 18, 2008

okay, so it’s really hard for me to keep up on all this social networking stuff sometimes.  i enjoy it.  i wish i could be better at it.  but i feel too overwhelmed by other things in my life to do a decent job at it.  i am a person who gets excited by projects easily, then abandons said projects when something else excites me more.  then i have a pile of 50 uncompleted projects to finish.  then i have a panic attack.  haha.

~

i will also say this about myself- it’s hard for me to differentiate what is too personal to write about.  this is such a problem for me, that i fight with myself about it, and most times don’t end up writing anything for fear of leaking things i’ll later regret saying.  sometimes, what i have to say can be very scathing and bitchy. because that is just the tone of my writing if i’m in a bad mood, which is when i tend to write the most.  it’s bitten me in the ass a good number of times, the most recent incident causing me to permanently lock my personal online journal.

~

also, i just tend to get discouraged with, or bored by certain sites ( like myspace), so i tend to only care about them in an on-and-off fashion.

~

then i look at people like julia allison, who i’ve never heard of before i read that article, who lives her entire life online. it makes me wonder what the best strategy really is for being successful at this little online game? to be an enigma or bare it all? sure, people like to be voyeurs. and she gets attention, but people hate her for it. and shit, i’ll admit it, i’ve got a really thin skin– there’s no WAY i could take criticism like the kind she gets (i know, musician is the wrong line of work to be in if i can’t take criticism, aye?) i just want to be able to share things about myself without going to that extreme. but is it possible?

~

i’ve been thinking about this lately, because as musicians, it’s up to us to find fans and keep them interested. part of that is doing things like blogging, and twitter, and all that other crap. i want to be able to just write whateverthehell i want, but i can’t. what can i say, i’ve got a dirty mind or not just that, but an angry mind… a scared mind. or just an overreactive-and-prone-to-post-when-i’m-emotional mind. aside from the dirty part, i’m not sure these are the best things to try and reel people in with. and i’m not sure unflattering character flaws are the best things for random people to know about other random people, anyway.

~

still, there’s always that urge to want to blab everything about onesself, even if it makes us feel vulnerable… then inevitably delete/ edit/ lock what was written out of embarassment. it’s what i always do.
~
in conclusion, i don’t know what the anwer is. i guess it’s different for each one of us.

the breakdown of the singer and songwriter July 17, 2008

we’ve all heard that dumb term.  “singer-songwriter.” can it be any more vague?  this is how i’m forced to describe myself when someone asks at some party,  “ohhhh!  so you’re a musicccian!  what instrument do you plaaayyy?  what kind of music do you doooo?”

~

on one hand, it leaves absolutely everything to the imagination.  it can mean any number of things, since anyone who writes a song and then sings it, could then be considered a singer-songwriter.  it doesn’t matter if you make r&b, power-pop, punk, or industrial grindthrashcxre.  now that i think about it, this is a term that should be celebrated for its diversity.

~

instead, however,  anytime you mention the words “singer” and “songwriter” in the same sentence, people automatically raise a leery eyebrow and assume some stereotype of beatniks singing self-indulgent lyrics in a coffeehouse.   if you’re a girl and play guitar, there’s usually some variation of ani difranco involved, as well.

~

what’s the deal, people?  is it just the human mind’s tendency to categorize things?  well the stereotypes are damn annoying. i feel like folks are stuck in the 1990’s version of the wikipedia page i just posted above.

~

maybe it’s because we haven’t had a very strong movement of them since the 90’s? oh sure, everybody just can’t get enough of little darling regina spektor.  and feist is rather fetching.  but a whole movement?  a woodstock?  a lilith fair?  hasn’t transpired in awhile.

~

i think people’s opinions haven’t changed because there’s nothing fresh on their mind. but not for lack of trying. i won’t deny that there’s there’s totally goings on in the realm of independent/ d.i.y. musicians. for instance, in brooklyn there’s jezebel, and local correspondents.  both are vehicles specifically designed for singer-songwriters.  they find artists they like and promote them for FREE.  this is huge, even though i, myself haven’t magaged to wrangle their attentions. 

~

also i hear in l.a. the whole hotel cafe scene is buzzing.  from what i gather, it’s a venue that picks out high-quality performers, many who are on the path of successful careers, whose music has been featured on television shows and commercials.  they even have a national tour which, based on its amount of sold out shows, has proven to be popular.

~

another trend is the tons of little apartment venues that are are opening up.   the words out:  people are sick of going to some gross dive bar in manhattan, to pay a $15 cover, buy a $5 pbr, then waiting it out through some shitty band on a shitty sound system, just to see your friends perform for like 20 minutes, while rude drunks talk through their songs.  (i have had experiences like this as both a performer and a spectator.)  why do that when you can go to a friend’s house, pay a $3-$5 cover, buy a $2 beer or bring your own, and see an amazing show in an authentic, intimate environment? 

~

to my knowlege, in my neighborhood alone theres brooklyn cat house, brooklyn tea party, john bosch, market hotel, and silent barn.  in fact, it’s occurring all across america, and doesn’t only benefit the singer-songwriter, but anyone who desires to be heard, and does not desire to go through traditional venues. places like these help out the musician/ band who has no other outlet.

~

new music is leaking out the cracks everywhere. and i think that’s totally awesome and beneficial. but still — it’s no mainstream movement… yet.  i sort of think a new one’s just around the corner.  what evidence to i have to back that claim up?  none, really.  just a hunch.  and the knowledge that the frilly, escapist music of recent times has worn out its welcome, and something has got fill its place sooner or later.

~

then again, maybe we don’t want another mainstream movement.  maybe singer-songwriters are fine just the way they are now, thankyouverymuch, with thier indie-ness and d.i.y. ethics.  but darnitt, it would sure give the image of one a makeover, and then people at parties would be more convenient for me to conversate with.