Download: gogo

I for one never really realized how much work actually goes into getting a business started.  Looking in from the outside, people made it seem so easy.  Not even up and running, just starting the wheels in motion has been a good deal of work.  I am currently working on my business plan.  For some reason I believed the stupid notion that as long as I knew what it is I wanted to do, in my head, there was no need for me to put it down on paper; create a business plan.   Some one actually told me that though.  That’s the crazy part.  I didn’t just make that up in my own little head.  Good thing I am surrounded with people who actually want to see me succeed and they told me the truth.  No matter what kind of business you want to start or get involved with, from what I have learned, your best plan is to start with a business plan.  For me, being able to put my ideas down on paper, will give me the space needed to tweak the numbers and ideas as need be.  This business plan thing is a difficult thing though.  Don’t let anyone tell you that it is a “piece of cake” cause it is not.   It is really time consuming and a lot of research.  I have been researching for a good while now and I am no where closed to being done.  You would never guess the information you need to know in order to have a good business plan.  You need to know you competition (of course), market share information, target groups, area statistics such as population and demographics.  Then you have to break those up by race, income, religion, and gender.  WHY!!!

Now you would think being that I technically only want to throw upscale parties for a living, I wouldn’t really need to do any of this business planning stuff.  But I do.   I really do.  And once I found out the whys behind doing it, it all made sense and became clear.  In order to determine if your business will be successful, you have to do the math.  In order to do the math and do it correctly, you have to do the research, no matter how many hours it may take, it has to get done.  And when it comes down to it, the research is the easier part of it all.  Putting it together is a whole other story…which I haven’t gotten to yet, but so I have been told.  I honestly just wished that my business plan would just magically appear….who am I kidding?

When I posted my first entry to this blog, someone asked me, “Why do you want to start this type of business with the way the economy is?”  That question really made me stop and think.  Why would I want to do this with things not looking so bright for the average American?  So I thought about it. 

Who doesn’t want to be entertained?  Who doesn’t want a night out where they could escape from all their worries of the everyday life?  Who doesn’t want to have a good night out, even if once a month, with their girls or their boys?  Who wouldn’t want to see the favorite artist perform in a not so crowded environment?  Who couldn’t enjoy a good a laugh and an opportunity to make new friends?  If you can tell me someone that these don’t apply to, I will rethink it.  But I honestly don’t think that there is anyone out there who wouldn’t want this.

And yes I know money may be tight for a lot of us, but if you think about it, you end up spending money to be entertained every week anyway.  You go to the movies, eat out, have drinks w/ the girls, go to the club, or maybe just go for a drive.  Either which way you look at it, you are spending money. 

So why not spend a little more and get what you pay for and exactly what you want; great entertainment, dinner, dancing, and good company all in one.  You really can’t beat that, now can you?

So I will continue on my journey to improve the nightlife in Orlando, no matter how much work I have to put into it.  From the comments that I have gotten so far, this is really needed.  And I am not going to get everyone all excited about what’s to come, and not go thru with it.  That would suck for all of us.  So it may be some time before I have my first event but make sure to stay tuned because it’s coming.  Just make sure that you are there because you would want to miss it.

The night of the concert arrived and Siggy took us to the venue. Cenario is a great little cabaret theatre, and the perfect location for an acoustic performance. When I saw inside I was so pleased, and couldn't wait to see how many people arrived. We have a venue very similar in Brighton called the Komedia. I've seen Show of Hands play there and it has a great atmosphere. The seating is around tables, not the usual rows you find in most music halls. I was due to start playing at 7.45, and with about an hour to go people began to arrive, and by 7.45 when I took the stage the place had reached capacity, which really took me by surprise.

I'm used to having three instruments on stage with me. One guitar in regular tuning, a mandolin, and another guitar in DADGAD tuning. This means I don't have to keep retuning the guitars. I'd only brought one guitar with me (my Taylor), so the two sets had been split into one set of regular tuned songs, and the second set of DADGAD tunes. I'd tried this once before and it hadn't quite worked, but I have a lot more songs now, so I was more confident. I opened with Song of Awen, then went into Pipes of Pan and by the third song I could hear people singing along with me, and that set the scene for the rest of the evening.

I opened the second set with Hills they are Hollow, and ended it with the new live favourite, Wild Mountain Thyme - it's a great song to sing, and everyone knows it. Two lovely encores followed - I'm sure I could have played all night! When I suggested a return concert next year the response was a very positive "Yes!" To be so far away from home, and find people who knew my songs was amazing. What a ride this is!

I'm not a great fan of flying. Well, it's not the flying that's the problem, it's the potential plummeting that's the issue for me. But on this past trip I found my secret safety blanket. It was the European Cup Semis and Final over the weekend in Vienna and as I was sitting on the plane ready to fly out I heard a familiar Scottish accent. I looked around and there was Alan Hanson sitting just behind me, and there a little further down the plane was Gary Lineker. Suddenly I knew that the flight would be completely safe. The plane could never crash with these two famous people on board! Could you imagine the tabloid news?!

As Cerri and I sat waiting for the plane to take off on the return flight there they were again. Alan and Gary, our Guardian Angels :)

More of my Vienna trip soon!

However, Mike Patton also has a fondness for the more accessible. FNM cover Lionel Richie's "Easy," Mr. Bungle had "Retrovertigo," Patton's Ipecac Recordings put out records by classically or instrumentally adventurous but still accessible Ennio Morricone (exotica / spaghetti western / classical / movie scores), The Tango Saloon (jazz / spag. western / tango), Flat Earth Society (big band), Kaada (multi-instrumentalist / movie scores), and Eyvind Kang (some of his classical compositions).

Mondo Cane is a 1962 Italian shock-documentary film (read more here). It's also the name of Mike Patton's "60s/70s Italian pop" project. And "60s/70s Italian pop" involves orchestration and some good ol' crooning...

(photo: Monique Hofland)

A recent concert with Mike Patton and the Metropole Orchestra ( Paradiso Hall, Holland Festival June 2008 ) was filmed and is available in its entirety here:

http://www.fabchannel.com/mike_patton_concert/2008-12-06/

I'm only through the first 5 songs, but it sounds great. If tentative or skeptical, check out "Ore D'More" (#3) for a sample of the crooning.

I love this guy's music. It's true.

~Dan - np: guess?

EODM are absolutely very sexy indeed!!! And lots of fun. And great performers not to forget...

The Melkweg was completely full with a raving audience. A crowd of glam rock lovers completely went wild, yelling their lungs out and shaking their hips and asses like crazy...Male stage divers were smoothly and professionally escorted back into the audience, while the sexy young scantilly dressed girlies were confidently lured back-stage to be prepared for after the show. Interesting! ;-)

I'm hoping to be able to post a couple of blogs on my travels. But right now it's early(ish) to bed for a 5am rise to catch the plane...

As I get older and pick up more responsibility, I find myself working harder to secure a good life. This involves hours of implementing and employing new marketing strategies to make money as an independent musician.

One of the new ideas I have turned into reality has been organizing my own concert and drumming up people to come and watch.

As opposed to getting hired to play a gig somewhere (which can still pay well), I wanted to set the bar higher and take control of the whole concept.

Thanks to some great advice on the internet and support from friends and fans, I have successfully done this 2 times now.

Here is a stripped down version of some of the major details required to hold a live concert.

1) Find a great place to hold it.

You need to find somewhere convenient and make sure it has the acoustics for great sound. I chose a local community theatre here in Japan that has an amazing stage already equipped with lighting, speakers, and all that jazz. It’s also relatively cheap since it belongs to the community.

2) Design the tickets.

I made sure to design some tickets that look professional. The cheaper they look, the less professional you appear also. Do these properly and people will feel like they’re going to watch the real deal when they pay for one.

3) Getting the word out.

This is probably the most important and most difficult part of the whole process. You must do everything in your power to find people to come to the event if you want a successful show. Here are some things that I did.

a) make colour flyers

b) make posters

c) make small pass-outs

d) ask for a radio interview. I went into the local radio station with two other members and performed live.

e) Make an audio commercial about 30 seconds long that you can use on the radio (if you want to pay a small fee for air time) and also you can burn it onto a CD rom with three songs from your CD and pass them out. This was quite successful. I passed out a lot of CD’s as PR and with three free songs and a quick spiel on the upcoming show.

f) Get a street team together. Ask band members and friends to help out. I promised some fans they could come for free if they help sell tickets. You’ll be surprised what a lot of fans will do because they believe in you. I also promised the band two different guarantees. I told them I’d pay them “X” amount of money more, if we sold over 80% of the tickets we made. I was really surprised at the effort they put into helping out.

g) Make sure you start the campaigning a good 2 months in advance. People need time to plan and spread the vibe of the event.

h) Talk about it all the time. Don’t push it in peoples faces but there are ways of talking about the event that don’t come across as sales. “I went to bed late last night because I was rehearsing with the band”. You never asked anyone to come but you refreshed their memory that you’re working hard towards the gig.

i) Offer prizes like t-shirts (if you have them), or free CD’s.

j) Ask local shops if you can put a poster on their window.

k) Play at local CD stores for free.

4) How can you make the show unique?

In other words, how can you justify charging people to come to your show? For me, since this was my second time doing this, I wanted to step up the game and make it better than the first time. The first concert I held on my own consisted of 4 band members. This time, I invited two friends (who are pro musicians) to come spend some time with me in Japan and do the gig making it a 6 piece band. They wanted the holiday/experience and the Japanese were thrilled to have two professional foreign musicians adding heaps of colour to the show. I should point out that I held this concert in a relatively rural area. This was to my advantage because more of the local people don’t normally get an opportunity to see a rock concert so close by. It was easier to convince people that they’re about to see something normally held in Tokyo.

5) Practice.

Let’s face it, if you want to impress your fans and make them leave the concert feeling they spent their money wisely, practice hard and make the band tight!

6) Please those around you first!

If you want to do this again in the future then your name is important. Don’t get too greedy and try to keep every single penny you made from the gig. You might want to do this because you worked 99% harder than anyone else did to make this happen. However, paying the right people and doing it fairly is good business. They will be willing to do more for you next time and you’ll even find more doors opening for you.

7) Make a to do list.

Organization is key to everything running smoothly. I had several lists and still found it hard to keep everything running well.

8) Day of the gig.

Check your lists. Be prepared for things to go wrong. Try to stay calm and don’t snap at anyone. If you’re going to have a moment, find a place to chill for a minute.

9) Showtime!

Get out on that stage and play like there’s no tomorrow. Do your thing and do it as best you can. Don’t leave anything behind because this is your moment to prove that you’re worthy to be there!

10) Sell CD’s.

Sell them at a low price and come out into the lobby with the band and sign them. Chat and take pictures and be personable! Leave a sheet they can sign with their email address and contact info. This is really important for future contact.

11) Next day.

You’re still not done. Now, you have lots of thank you’s, and last minute payouts and things to do. Don’t just leave your fans forgotten. They are your bread and butter so personally thank as many as you can!

I’m sure there are other things that I’ve forgotten to mention but in general these are the basics. For me, the key to success is not leaving it all to the last minute and more importantly, making sure that everyone is happy.

Go get ‘em!

पांव उठ सकते नहीं मंज़िल-ए-जाना के ख़िलाफ़
और अगर होश की पूछो तो मुझे होश नहीं

अब तो तासीर-ए-ग़म-ए-इश्क़ यहां तक पहुंची
के इधर होश अगर है तो उधर होश नहीं

मेहंद-ए-तस्बीह तो सब हैं मगर इदराक कहां
ज़िंदगी ख़ुद ही इबादत है मगर होश नहीं

मिल के इक बार गया है कोई जिस दिन से 'जिगर'
मुझको ये वहम है शायद मेरा था दोष (?) नहीं

ये अलग बात है साक़ी के मुझे होश नहीं
वर्ना मै कुछ भी हूं एहसानफ़रामोश नहीं

जो मुझे देखता है नाम तेरा लेता है
मै तो ख़ामोश हूं हालत मेरी ख़ामोश नहीं

कभी उन मदभरी आँखों से पिया था इक जाम
आज तक होश नहीं होश नहीं होश नहीं

Singer: Jagjit Singh
Lyrics: Jigar Moradabadi, Abdul Hameed 'Adam'

जिसने ये दर्द दिया है वो दवा भी देगा
लादवा है जो मेरा दर्द-ए-जिगर होने दो

ज़िक्र रुख़सत का अभी से न करो बैठो भी
जान-ए-मन रात गुज़रने दो सहर होने दो

वस्ल-ए-दुश्मन की ख़बर मुझ से अभी कुछ ना कहो
ठहरो ठहरो मुझे अपनी तो ख़बर होने दो

Singer: Jagjit Singh

नग़्मे थे हवाओं में जादू था फ़िज़ाओं में
हर साँस ग़ज़लफ़ां था कल रात जहां मै था

दरिया-ए-मोहब्बत में कश्ती थी जवानी की
जज़्बात का तूफ़ां था कल रात जहां मै था

मेहताब था बाहों में जलवे थे निगाहों में
हर सिम्त चराग़ां था कल रात जहां मै था

'ख़ालिद' ये हक़ीक़त है नाकर्दा गुनाहों की
मै ख़ूब पशेमां था कल रात जहां मै था

Singer: Jagjit Singh
Lyrics: Khalid Kuwaiti

Gene Futon ‘SOLO!’
ศุกร์ที่ 20 มิถุนายนนี้ ที่ The Tube

Gene Futon กับงานแสดงดนตรีแบบโซโล่ครั้งแรกในวันศุกร์ที่ 20 มิถุนายน ที่ The Tube ห้ามพลาดเด็ดขาดจริงๆ งานนี้ พร้อมเพื่อนๆ ของ Gene ที่จะมาเพิ่มอรรถรสในการรับชมรับฟังด้วยเสียง Percussion สุดเท่ ในสไตล์ Trip-Hop

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A couple of weeks ago I started a little house concert tour in the South of England (I'm planning to get up to the North in September) and it was great fun. I played the last date last Friday in Southend, Essex. I met some lovely people and was very touched that the hosts were willing to open their homes to me so I could play for them and their friends. I can honestly say I loved every gig, and would definitely do it again. So to everyone at Roz's, Elizebeth's and Jean's and everyone else who sang along, laughed, clapped, and made me feel so welcome, thank you!

The picture was taken at my first home concert at Roz's -  a magical night, great company, wonderful food and hospitality.

Natalie Bassingthwaighte - Oh My God! Not only can she sing, she is drop dead gorgeous and knows how to work the crowd into a frenzy.  I can safely say i'm a fan for life now.  She can entertain me anytime!  Apparently she has upcoming movies that she starred in Prey, a solo album on the way and numerous other things.  When she is on stage she loves to let loose and go as crazy as possible, according to recent media reports - I can voutch for that!

As with most bands, definitely better in the flesh.  Check out www.RogueTraders.com to see if they are coming to an venue near you, well worth the $44 a ticket.

Check out the latest CD at Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Better-Dark-Rogue-Traders/dp/B0015U0O9G/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1212835335&sr=1-4

Songs played included some old favourites, some new ones and some covers, even one of Sinead O'Connors hits which she did extremely well

So Gangsta, I wish I was there.

Hmm... It was free ticket for me. Otherwise... honestly I am not the target audience. How can I possibly go watch The Click Five? Hee hee... Nevertheless, since I was there, I got to share what I've gotten.

I've gotten a few videos to share on The Click Five Concert @ the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 1st June 2008.  Their fans were crazy...

Ethan had prepared a brand new song for the group. It's actually quite nice

Registering as one of the most successful tours of 2007, the Turn It On Again tour saw one of Britain's most internationally renowned bands, Genesis, play together for the first time in 15 years. Described by The Times as "Passionate, energetic, imaginative... Brilliant", Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford of Genesis thrilled audiences across Europe with a series of Stadium performances that ended with a spectacular concert in Rome in front of 500,000 fans at the beautiful Circo Massimo on 14 July 2007.

This final spectacular European date was captured in a multi-camera shoot by director David Mallet. "When In Rome 2007" features Genesis classics such as "Land Of Confusion" and "Mama" to older Genesis repertoire "Los Endos", "Carpet Crawlers" and the haunting "Ripples".

Monday, June 9 - presented in high definition and full 5.1 surround sound.

My old tent had finally given up on me after years of use so I invested in a new Lavvu Tipi which I'd thoroughly recommend. It was pitched in minutes and then I had a few hours to relax and land before I was due to play at about 8pm. The tent that hadn't yet been pitched was the marquee where I was due to play... the marquee people had forgotten to bring the canvas, but they arrived about 6pm and began to set it up. The opening ritual gathered the people together who were welcomed by the organisers Phil and Nina, and by the end the marquee stood at the corner of the field.

I decided to open with Hills they are Hollow this time, and by the first chorus people were already singing along! It was wonderful. The gig went on and then I remembered the last time I played here - there were no lights in the marquee. Night was falling, and with it the audience (and I guess I was too) was disappearing into the darkness. My parents always told me to eat more carrots - that if I did I'd be able to see in the dark. I hated carrots. But the darkness was somehow even more magical. A few people shone their torches, and I kept playing, and the audience kept singing. With the help of those torches I played for about 90 minutes, and it was great fun.

The next day I met Kit Berry, author of the Stonewylde series of books. I love these stories and if you've not heard of her I thoroughly recommend them. Deeply Pagan, magical, intense, characters you love, and some you certainly don't, very human. It was nice to be able to give her some CDs as a thank you for the enjoyment I've had reading her stories.

I also met a wonderful fiddle player called Tim. A natural musician, intuitive, inventive. He hadn't heard any of my songs before, but we just jammed though and the effect of the fiddle was incredible. We played a few around the campfire on the Saturday night, and you can be sure that you'll be hearing Tim play on my next album!

The Helio Sequence

Oregon's The Helio Sequence (on Sub Pop Records) play the big smoke on May 26, 2008 at The Horseshoe Tavern. Show's 19+ and its $10 bucks. Tickets can be purchased in advance at Rotate This. They're here in support of their new album 'Keep Your Eyes Ahead'. I've posted a couple songs from the new album below.

*RIGHT CLICK, THEN PRESS ‘SAVE AS’ TO DOWNLOAD*

DOWNLOAD: The Helio Sequence - Broken Afternoon

DOWNLOAD: The Helio Sequence - Back To This

---

Foals

While the Foals (from the U.K) won't be stopping anywhere close by Toronto on their massive tour, their first album 'Antidotes' (released in April) has been garnering some pretty impressive reviews from all across the board. There are also a ton of remixes of their stuff out there.

DOWNLOAD: Foals-balloons

DOWNLOAD: Foals-cassius

DOWNLOAD: Foals-electric bloom

DOWNLOAD: Foals - electric bloom (nightsweats remix)

*RIGHT CLICK, THEN PRESS ‘SAVE AS’ TO DOWNLOAD*

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Ya jadi itulah sedikit cerita tentang Chris Botti yang hari ini giliran manggung di esplanade. Sekarang saatnya buat cerita saya 8)

Tadi kelar kelas prancis jam 6 pm. Rada mepet sih soalnya kan konsernya mulai jam 7.30 pm. Tapi kata Tepen 1.5 jam itu udah lebih dari cukup buat ke cityhall, dan kelas bahasa sebaiknya jangan di skip kalo nggak nanti banyak ketinggalan. Yasudahlah saya nurut aja sama Tepen. Kayaknya teorinya memang bener sih...tapi kita lupa memperhitungkan satu variabel lagi. Jam 6 tuh kan jam kelar kelas hampir semua anak yang special semester. Dan pasti kalau orang singapur pulang donk ke rumahnya. Ya penuhlah bus 179 itu. Bahkan di tempat saya menunggu (2 stop sebelum keluar NTU ke Boon Lay), bus nya udah nggak mau berhenti saking udah kepenuhan.

Yah. Akhirnya keluarlah ide "brilian" itu. Saya cepat-cepat berjalan mengitari Nanyang Lake dengan maksud ke bus stop block 1 (2 bus stop setelah masuk NTU dari Boon Lay). Sialnya, saya lagi pake sepatu cewek, dan semua orang juga tahu sepatu jenis itu bukan diciptakan buat jalan cepet-cepet. Haduh gaenaknya maksimum. Ditambah lagi, saya datang ke bus stop nya telat sekian detik dan akhirnya bus 179 berlalu di depan mata :cry: . Gila gila...lalu bertanyalah saya pada iris, dan katanya bus berikutnya baru datang 12 menit lagi. Wah lemes deh langsung. Tapi ya sudahlah mau apa lagi. Untung tepat 12 menit, bus datang, dan seperti yang saya perkirakan, saya dapet tempat duduk yang enak.

Tampaknya sesudah itu keberuntungan saya sedikit membaik. Di Boon Lay MRT sudah datang ketika saya naik eskalator dan belum terlalu ramai, jadi bisa dapet duduk juga. Haduh capek banget. Sempet tidur sebentar di perjalanan juga. Untung nggak kelewatan. Setelah nyampe city hall juga langsung ke city link menuju Esplanade. Konsernya sudah dimulai, seperti dugaan, tapi baru sebentar sih. Baru dikasih masuk pas lagi intermission piano.

Konsernya KEREN banget buat saya. Selain Chris Botti yang emang dewa trumpet, band-nya juga terdiri dari musisi-musisi yang talented banget. Di piano ada Billy Childs, yang katanya uda menang sekian Grammy...wow. Trus Bob Hurst di bass...keren abis solo bass akustiknya. Mark Whitfield si gitar merah yang sanguin abis suka joged-joged sendiri. Dan nggak lupa Billy Kilson si drummer yang kalo kata si Botti, "If he's not on the drums, maybe he's the slowest person I've ever seen in my life." Memang jalannya pelan, tapi kalo dah di drumset jadi hiperaktif gitu...hahaha...sixtupletnya rapi abis...mati dahhhh...

Meskipun saya bukan orang jazz, tapi saya masih bisa menikmati tuh...Konser ini seperti memperlihatkan kepada saya the real beauty of the trumpet. Enam tahun saya denger trumpet, yang ada di pikiran saya cuma satu kata: cempreng. Bahkan setelah nonton trumpet di orkestra juga tetep ngerasa trumpet tuh cuma kenceng tp rada disturbing...hahaha...no offense ya buat trumpeters :wink: . Nggak pernah nyangka trumpet bisa sebegitu halus dan sebegitu tajam. Nggak nyangka instrumen kecil itu bisa begitu sensitif tapi juga bisa begitu kuat dan menyengat tapi tetep seksi. Intinya, nggak nyesel deh nonton Chris Botti dkk...buat yang di Jakarta saya sarankan nonton juga. :mrgreen:

Beberapa lagu yang dimainin antara lain (urutannya random):

• Caruso
• Thousand Kisses Deep
• Hallelujah -nya Jeff Buckley
• Cinema Paradiso (my personal fave! Thanks for playing this song...almost like a birthday present :grin: )
• My Funny Valentine (Miles Davis, lagu inspirasinya si Chris Botti)
• dan lagu-lagu lain lagi yang nggak saya ketahui. Maklum kan saya nggak punya albumnya Botti satupun. :|