Stone Yard
Jan 30, 2009 sojourn
I’m planning out the weekend, co-write in the morning, NSAI coordinator meeting Sunday, slip in a neighborhood birthday party (the adult flavor) on Saturday night, and oh yeah it’s Super Bowl weekend, what… huh?
Where did January [2009] go?
It’s been whirlwind since the 2nd day of the year… started back to work earlier than normal from Christmas holiday due to “the acquisition”, then had to travel out west a week on business. This past work week just flew by, and though I did some writing during the month, I missed both gigs I had scheduled. Fortunately I have enough discipline to keep the fire from going out, and I’m ready to make another surge, I’ve got my flippers and goggles on — I’m diving in with a somewhat refined approach:
- I decided I was still missing that single point of reference for all my lyrics and song ideas, so I bumped my MasterWriter to 2.0 and now have the application on my PC and Mac, and I’ll figure out how to sync the two data sets as I go, but I’ll keep the master on the Mac.
- Didn’t spend enough time on Logic, but that’s a big goal for February, especially learning to program the drums via midi to make better demos of finished songs.
- I’ve also update my productivity maps in MindManager, and have a more centralized work flow for tracking goals and getting to sites and resources I frequent.
- Lastly, I’m enjoying hooking up with some old friends on MySpace and listening to their material, very inspiring, and some flat out really good material.
NSAI has another busy month ahead. Craig Bickhardt will be in town for workshop and show (see NSAI Charlotte site for details), and I’ll get to meet a writer who I really admire that’s coming in from Charleston for the CB events. Plus, I need to make a final decision on travel to Nashville in late March for coordinator refresh and hopefully some networking.
Busy times centered on work really mess me up from an inspiration perspective. Yeah, the muse shows up, we engage, but I have a real problem with focus when I’m spent and things are so hectic I’m just a total scatter-head (hence the bullets above). Some famous philosopher said: a wooden bird starts with the first stroke of the pocket knife, a great meal with fresh herbs and spices, a good song with the “cojones” to say phooey on all this other crap, I’m gonna sit down and write me one.
Guess I’ll head out to the “stone yard” and turn a few over till I find me something to sing about… new month, new set of opportunities.
Tags: bickhardt, grit, MasterWriter, NSAI, stick-to-it
Active Participant
Jan 12, 2009 what if?
I dunno, three, maybe four Saturdays ago, I was headed to South Charlotte for coffee and a co-write session at my friend Allen’s apartment. On the way there I heard two short interviews on NPR that impacted my perspective from that morning on.
The second (yeah, I know, what’s up with that?) interview was with the music director for the Baltimore Symphony (at least I believe that’s her role, and I can’t recall her name) on the compositions of Aaron Copeland. Now I studied composition in college a LONG time ago, and I certainly have an appreciation for symphonic works, but what grabbed me about the conversation is the fervor and freshness I sensed as she talked about Copeland’s work and approach to composition, in a manner reminiscent of songwriters sharing insights about Craig Wiseman, Carole King, Jimmy Webb, etc., the energy was infectious.
Previous to this conversation, the interview was with an artist who resides in Denver by the name of Bob Ragland. I’d never heard of him, but it was as though he was speaking to me. He talked about be a “non-starving” artist and his approach to making ends meet doing what he loves most — creating art. His attitude of perseverance spoke to me as a writer. Sure I’m not full time, and I’m not published, or have any songs on hold, but I have desire and love to make music and write songs.
Bob’s message: do the practical, do it every day, and do it well.
Simple, huh? I checked out the list he posted titled “The Stuff You Won’t learn in Art School“, and thought to myself, get at it! I mean, why not my music and songs? Get them out there, work at promoting, and sharing, and pitching and being ready to get something placed… why not me?!?!?
Last week one of the songs Allen and I wrote got real good feedback on a SongU critique session, and today we were notified the song is going to the NSAI luncheon for potential pitch to publisher. While the essence of all this amounts to welcome validation of the passion and craft we put into the song, it’s a step in the right direction — all because I chose to embrace the risk of being an active participant in promoting myself.
Tags: Bob Ragland, creativity, promotion
Stew
The swirl of the new year is settling, I mean we’re almost half way through January and this is my first post for 2009. I don’t make resolutions, but do plan keep my threads centered on music and writing (and art) this year. Not to say there won’t be a rant laced in here and there, but I have a goal this year to get over the feeling I don’t have the goods for the indie music mix and do much more to develop and promote my work.
This past week was interesting in a variety of ways. I’ve been reviewing and editing my “day job” scenario, hence my LinkedIn profile, which I’ve drastically changed to a more “corporate” view [without totally losing my identity], I’ve also found some really cool groups that mix technology and music/art mindsets.
I try to read through discussions at least once daily, and I was going through a rather long thread last Sunday about some conference I know nothing about and the last comment was from Paul Cullen — the name caused me to pause and jog my memory. I checked out his LinkedIn profile and sure enough it turns out Paul and I knew each other back in the early ‘80 in Ft. Myers, FL while attending Edison Community College. We are both bassists/guitarists, roughly the same age, and working at being indie artists. While my career has some pretty cool bright spots (like performing with Marian McPartland in college and a 90 minute set with Branford Marsalis at a Blues club in Ft. Myers), Paul spent a couple of years with Bad Co. in the early ’90’s. We’ve exchanged several emails and contact information. Paul travels to Charlotte a couple of times a year, so I hope to see him soon.
I’ve recently established a great co-writing relationship with a writer (Allen Szyrwiel) that’s just on fire and way talented. He’s inspiring me to step up my game, and we get along like kid brothers which makes it all that much more fun. We’ve finished one song, have a 2nd in the hopper, and hope to crank out a few more in ‘09.
NSAI Charlotte is as busy than ever! I spent a few hours this week updating/maintaining our website (Wordpress blog) with information on upcoming Q1 workshops (Hugh Prestwood and Craig Bickhardt), adjusting to the new version of WP, and some general housekeeping. It feels really good to give something back to the songwriting community, I know I’ve been blessed by past coordinators and all the great members of our chapter.
The one thing I haven’t done near enough this week is write or practice. But I’ve set my goals, already attended one SongU feedback session and selecting my self-paced course for this month, as well I’m cleaning clutter in my studio over the next 7 days to ensure my creative environment is ready for work.
The ingredients are in the pot, time to add water, stir and make “stew“.
Tags: Nashville, NSAI, Paul Cullen, songwriting