Be A Charity Case

Who comes to mind when you think of celebrity giving?  U2’s Bono perhaps (one of the featured givers on celebrity giving site Looking To The Stars), maybe even people like Lady Gaga and Alicia Keys giving up Twitter for a good cause now and then.  Don’t forget the golf tournaments and baby holding done by groups like Rascal Flatts.

Practical Presentation Pointers

Image is everything …
Put your best foot forward …
You only have one chance to make a first impression …

Sayings like this have been swirling around the world for centuries. Do we pay attention to them? Do they apply to someone trying to make their mark in the music business? Are we ready at all times to leave a lasting impression? Good or bad, the way we carry and present ourselves will leave a mark.

Work What Your Mama Gave Ya

Interesting title for what you are about to read… We are taught very basic skills from birth:

1. Say please and thank you
2. Mind your manners, be polite
3. Always be on time
4. Respect your elders
5. Encourage your friends

These life skills and guiding principals, along with many others I am sure, are instilled in us as children.  However somewhere between childhood and “know-it-all adulthood” people forget the simple graces of social interaction and begin to think that these rules don’t apply and that they can do it better.

What To Consider Before Going On Tour

Coming down from Pittsburgh, the “City That Rocks” as ranked by Esquire Magazine in 2004 at the following popular Pittsburgh music venues and clubs, Chet Vincent & The Big Bend make Music City, USA a stop on their Spring tour schedule.  Appearing at The End, Chet brings his vulnerable vocals and throwback lyrics to the music lovers of Nashville.

"I Don’t Blog," Well Why Not?

Being new to blogs and blogging I am still learning about all the “ins and outs”. I regularly get into discussions with friends about blogs and you would be surprised at how many people say, “I don’t blog.” They go on to tell me they don’t understand it, don’t know how, and that it scares them.

Not really sure where the fear comes from.  But usually when something is new to a person, the lack of knowledge about the topic tends to leave their conclusions based on hearsay and incorrect information.  Blogs, in their most primitive forms have been around since 1979.  That might seem impossible since the internet was only at its beginnings and wasn’t widely accessible then, but I am getting ahead of myself.  Lets talk about what a blog is.

Hope For Music: The DIY Generation

“If the milk industry can make their product seem sexy and increase consumer demand, there must be hope for music.” Gary Arnold, Merchandising Manager, Best Buy.  Using that logic, the hope that Spring evokes in all of us should be doubled in the hearts of those fighting the good fight in the ever changing landscape of the music business.

Mary Gauthier: The Foundling

Just now coming down from the musical high that The International Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis delivered, we bring you a conference highlight – Mary Gauthier (pronounced GOH-shay).  Let’s start with a quick wiki bio to open you up to who Mary is; at least briefly in black and white…

Gauthier was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Given up at birth by a mother she never knew, Gauthier was adopted by an Italian Catholic couple in Thibodaux, Louisiana. At age 15, she ran away from home, and spent the next several years in drug rehabilitation, halfway houses, and living with friends; she spent her 18th birthday in a jail cell.

Is Your Well Dry?

You can’t draw water from a well that is dry. Creative burnout happens in a person when they have pushed themselves to the limit one too many times. The act of losing creative inspiration is not an old wives’ tale. This reality can hit anyone one of us at anytime. Whether you have a desk job you fall deeper and deeper out of love with or you are a painter that has lost his spark, creativity does not discriminate and can choose to escape us at whim. This exodus can happen at the most inopportune times. Just when we have agreed to four more projects and we need inspiration, you can hit the road block and the detour begins.

In Like Lions

An African proverb suggests that, “Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.” In this day and age when it seems like musicians are stepping as solo acts to find nothing but industry comparisons and rejection – some artists are on the right track by banding together.  Boston-based Rock band In Like Lions knew there was power in numbers when they formed around three years ago.

We Will FOLK You: 24th Annual International FOLK Alliance Conference 2012

There is no shortage of music, talent or heart at the 24th Annual International Folk Alliance Conference.  Singer-Songwriters, artists, gypsies, an array of musical instruments and lyrical styles takes over the downtown Marriott of Memphis, TN. We will, we will folk you!