I suppose that this holiday leaves most fathers feeling appreciated. Our kids proudly present us with homemade cards or greatest-dad-ever t-shirts and breakfast in bed. We're given a much-needed day of rest, with nothing being asked of us all day long.
My daughter is fifteen now, but when she was much younger, I spent a lot of my time worrying about whether I was really a good father or not. I eventually was able to arrive at a place where I could recognize the areas in which I excelled, and forgive myself for the areas in which I came up short. This is a pretty good place to be. I usually ask myself "Would my dad have done blank for me?" If my answer is "no," and I'm doing whatever the blank is, than I can at least take comfort in the knowledge that I've gone beyond the average requirement. I'm doing the best that I can 90% of the time, for crying out loud, if I can't excuse myself a lousy 10%, than I must not be human. If my major league batting average was .900, I'd be hailed as the greatest hitter of all time. Give yourselves a break, fellow fathers, it's the most liberating thing you can do.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Getting My Ducks Lined Up
Last year, I subscribed to a songwriting service called "Taxi." Basically, it's a company made up of former record label and publishing executives that brokers songs written by it's members. Taxi's customers are artists, record labels, music publishers and music supervisors for TV shows and movies. In a nutshell, anybody who's not a songwriter, but needs a song.
I had been a member many years ago, but never really seemed to get any positive feedback. It seemed that no matter what the particular criteria they were looking to be met was, I was failing miserably at it. In the end, I began to think that maybe it was all just a big come-on, designed to get the $200 yearly membership fee out of me.
Although I had pretty much written Taxi off as a viable way of weaseling myself into the music industry, I would still occasionally get mailings from them, with stories of their members' success. This guy licensed three songs to a TV show, that girl got her song covered by a well-known country artist. Each story was more tantalizing than the last. Once more, I started to let myself dream of an established artist including one of my songs on their million-selling album, the way that a lottery ticket holder spends their pre-drawing time imagining what they'll do with their jackpot, should they win. The standard royalty that goes to the songwriter is roughly $.09, making placement on a million-selling album a $90,000 payday. For me, a life-changing amount of money.
Last year, I figured I'd take another shot at it. I also decided that I'd make a concerted effort to view Taxi's want ads as assignments, as if I was a Brill Building songwriter in the early 1960's. My first few submissions were not forwarded on to clients, but I was getting some great feedback from the Taxi screeners about how well my songs were structured and recorded. Eventually, my song "Call On Me" was forwarded to a publisher. Although they eventually turned it down, I felt as though I'd jumped a major hurdle. Maybe this was going to work after all.
During the course of the year, I had six songs forwarded to record labels and publishers. Though none produced any contracts or five-figure royalty checks, I was encouraged by my nominal success rate of 17% (percentage of songs being forwarded to clients). Being that my previous year with Taxi had yielded a 0% success rate, I was feeling pretty good about what a possible round three might eventually produce. This third try, however, would require me to do a little more groundwork, if I was going to gain further traction.
Several months ago, I began recording a small batch of songs which I thought would be good to have at the ready; two country/pop songs (lots of country artists rely on outside writers), two Christmas songs (not many good new ones out there) and two songs that sound like they're from the 1980's (music supervisors are ALWAYS looking for these). I've made some pretty good headway on the recordings, and I've even decided to bring in outside singers to help me with the quality and overall feel of the vocals. I know a lot of talented singers and if they can make my song sound better, I'm going to use them to help me sell it. I should be done in a couple of weeks, and then I'll join Taxi again and see if my strategy works. I'm optimistic.
I had been a member many years ago, but never really seemed to get any positive feedback. It seemed that no matter what the particular criteria they were looking to be met was, I was failing miserably at it. In the end, I began to think that maybe it was all just a big come-on, designed to get the $200 yearly membership fee out of me.
Although I had pretty much written Taxi off as a viable way of weaseling myself into the music industry, I would still occasionally get mailings from them, with stories of their members' success. This guy licensed three songs to a TV show, that girl got her song covered by a well-known country artist. Each story was more tantalizing than the last. Once more, I started to let myself dream of an established artist including one of my songs on their million-selling album, the way that a lottery ticket holder spends their pre-drawing time imagining what they'll do with their jackpot, should they win. The standard royalty that goes to the songwriter is roughly $.09, making placement on a million-selling album a $90,000 payday. For me, a life-changing amount of money.
Last year, I figured I'd take another shot at it. I also decided that I'd make a concerted effort to view Taxi's want ads as assignments, as if I was a Brill Building songwriter in the early 1960's. My first few submissions were not forwarded on to clients, but I was getting some great feedback from the Taxi screeners about how well my songs were structured and recorded. Eventually, my song "Call On Me" was forwarded to a publisher. Although they eventually turned it down, I felt as though I'd jumped a major hurdle. Maybe this was going to work after all.
During the course of the year, I had six songs forwarded to record labels and publishers. Though none produced any contracts or five-figure royalty checks, I was encouraged by my nominal success rate of 17% (percentage of songs being forwarded to clients). Being that my previous year with Taxi had yielded a 0% success rate, I was feeling pretty good about what a possible round three might eventually produce. This third try, however, would require me to do a little more groundwork, if I was going to gain further traction.
Several months ago, I began recording a small batch of songs which I thought would be good to have at the ready; two country/pop songs (lots of country artists rely on outside writers), two Christmas songs (not many good new ones out there) and two songs that sound like they're from the 1980's (music supervisors are ALWAYS looking for these). I've made some pretty good headway on the recordings, and I've even decided to bring in outside singers to help me with the quality and overall feel of the vocals. I know a lot of talented singers and if they can make my song sound better, I'm going to use them to help me sell it. I should be done in a couple of weeks, and then I'll join Taxi again and see if my strategy works. I'm optimistic.
My Skeleton Hurts...
Spent a goodly portion of the day tending to a small project in the yard with the wife. It was more physical labor than I'm used to doing these days, and my 45-year-old body is screaming at me. Still, it was a beautiful sunny day here in Wisconsin and, dare I say, I had a good time. We don't get to spend so much time together these days, and we had a bunch of good laughs. I think it helps that we took the "perfect yard" pressure off of ourselves and decided to just focus on getting the front yard in shape this spring/summer. If we get more done, great. If not, we're not gonna sweat it. There's grillin' that needs to happen.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Fountains of Wayne
The band Fountains of Wayne is just about the best thing going right now, FYI. If you're gonna argue the point, you're just an asshole that's lookin' to argue.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Nit-picking
The best thing about having home recording equipment is that, instead of paying a professional studio $50 an hour, you can record without sweating the budget clock. It's also the WORST part. With unlimited access, you can find yourself in the horrific position of re-doing parts and tweaking until you're pulling your eyebrows out.
In a previous post, I mentioned that I have a song that's coming out on a charity compilation CD, to benefit our local school system's music programs. I'm very happy about being a part of this, as it's very likely that more instruments will find their way into the hands of kids who are desperately in need of a creative outlet, because of extra funds raised by the CD. I remember when I got my first guitar, and the hours I'd spend trying to learn songs off of records. This was a great escape from the drama of the high school years. It annoyed the hell out of my family, who'd bang on my bedroom door and say, "How many times do you have to play that same song?"
At any rate, I turned in my song to the producers of the CD, though I wasn't 100% sure I was happy with it. I had previously recorded it in a higher key, but felt like my voice was straining a bit, so I lowered it a full step, from E Major to D Major. Now, after officially submitting it, and being beyond the point of no return, I took another listen to the original version in E. Turns out I was wrong, it sounded just fine. In fact, it sounded better than what I turned in. I second-guessed myself right into putting my club foot forward. What an idiot I am sometimes.
The good news, though, is that I haven't sent this inferior version, along with a Marshall Crenshaw cover, to be manufactured as a single yet. It'll be easy enough to swap in the better recording, making for a much-more impressive teaser to my forth-coming album, "Wake Up To Music." I've got the instrumental tracks for another ten songs done, I just have to find the time to get my singing voice in tip-top studio shape.
In a previous post, I mentioned that I have a song that's coming out on a charity compilation CD, to benefit our local school system's music programs. I'm very happy about being a part of this, as it's very likely that more instruments will find their way into the hands of kids who are desperately in need of a creative outlet, because of extra funds raised by the CD. I remember when I got my first guitar, and the hours I'd spend trying to learn songs off of records. This was a great escape from the drama of the high school years. It annoyed the hell out of my family, who'd bang on my bedroom door and say, "How many times do you have to play that same song?"
At any rate, I turned in my song to the producers of the CD, though I wasn't 100% sure I was happy with it. I had previously recorded it in a higher key, but felt like my voice was straining a bit, so I lowered it a full step, from E Major to D Major. Now, after officially submitting it, and being beyond the point of no return, I took another listen to the original version in E. Turns out I was wrong, it sounded just fine. In fact, it sounded better than what I turned in. I second-guessed myself right into putting my club foot forward. What an idiot I am sometimes.
The good news, though, is that I haven't sent this inferior version, along with a Marshall Crenshaw cover, to be manufactured as a single yet. It'll be easy enough to swap in the better recording, making for a much-more impressive teaser to my forth-coming album, "Wake Up To Music." I've got the instrumental tracks for another ten songs done, I just have to find the time to get my singing voice in tip-top studio shape.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
New Possibilities
It's early on a quiet Saturday morning. In a little while, I'm going to a meeting about getting one of my original songs on a compilation CD to benefit music programs in our school district. And, as excited as I am to be part of this worthwhile cause, I'm even more excited about finally putting something tangible out there, instead of defaulting to my usual "I'm too busy to record now, I have to mow the lawn" position.
I realized something awhile back about all creative endeavors. If you quit trying or are endlessly putting things off, you're guaranteed not to succeed. I don't mean to get all Deepak Chopra on you, but it's the truth. As an artist, there's nothing more exciting and fulfilling than actually having an iron in the fire, no matter how much of a long-shot it is. It's SOMETHING. It's an EFFORT. It's a DREAM IN THE EARLY STAGES OF FRUITION!
I've been a musician and a songwriter now for nearly thirty years. Some people look at me and think "Oh, that's sad, he never really made it, did he?" I think it all depends on what your definition of "making it" is. I've achieved things in music that millions of other aspiring musicians never have. Likewise, there are those who've gone further than me. That doesn't mean that I'm going to quit doing what I love, based on someone else's criteria, it fills me with excitement thinking of what might be.
Huey Lewis was much older than the average pop star when he finally hit it big in the '80's. Actor John Mulroney was a local Chicago actor until he was in his 60's and found the role of a lifetime on "Frasier." If either of these guys had quit after ten or fifteen years of pursuing their dream, just think of the creative loss to all of us.
So, as I sit here typing, on the cusp of my 45th birthday, I'm still as excited as I was when I was fourteen and got my first acoustic guitar at a neighbor's garage sale. Oh, the possibilities!
I realized something awhile back about all creative endeavors. If you quit trying or are endlessly putting things off, you're guaranteed not to succeed. I don't mean to get all Deepak Chopra on you, but it's the truth. As an artist, there's nothing more exciting and fulfilling than actually having an iron in the fire, no matter how much of a long-shot it is. It's SOMETHING. It's an EFFORT. It's a DREAM IN THE EARLY STAGES OF FRUITION!
I've been a musician and a songwriter now for nearly thirty years. Some people look at me and think "Oh, that's sad, he never really made it, did he?" I think it all depends on what your definition of "making it" is. I've achieved things in music that millions of other aspiring musicians never have. Likewise, there are those who've gone further than me. That doesn't mean that I'm going to quit doing what I love, based on someone else's criteria, it fills me with excitement thinking of what might be.
Huey Lewis was much older than the average pop star when he finally hit it big in the '80's. Actor John Mulroney was a local Chicago actor until he was in his 60's and found the role of a lifetime on "Frasier." If either of these guys had quit after ten or fifteen years of pursuing their dream, just think of the creative loss to all of us.
So, as I sit here typing, on the cusp of my 45th birthday, I'm still as excited as I was when I was fourteen and got my first acoustic guitar at a neighbor's garage sale. Oh, the possibilities!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Back From The Dead!!!
A friend of mine recently started a blog. It's really good, and well worth giving a looksy....www.garykunich.blogspot.com. It's reminded me that roughly five years ago, I had one going myself, which I had completely abandoned. As I read through my old posts, I had to swat the memories away like so many bees buzzin' 'round my extra-large head (size 7 & 5/8, for those of you scoring at home). What a time capsule it was; lots of angry, anti-Bush tirades and stories about being annoyed by people in general. I'm in a slightly different place now, so I figured I'd take another shot at waxing Miyagi's car collection. I hadn't even finished typing that last sentence, before I realized how dirty it sounded. Maybe this is a bad idea.
My wife has also been putting together some ideas for her own blog, which, from what I've seen, looks to be a really worthwhile collection of stories and inspirational quotes. She's had some health issues crop up in the past few years, and I think she wants to make her blog a place where people with similar problems can go to get in out of the rain. I'm glad she's doing it. She's a very creative person who doesn't get much opportunity to be creative. I'm proud of her.
Lastly, the idea of blogging again has really appealed to my current sense of legacy. I'd love to know what my Dad or my Grandfather were thinking as they made their way through life. Someday, I'll tell my daughter about this online journal, so that she can get a sideways peek into her own family history. It's a little more personal than if a third person was recollecting what I was like. As for me, even just writing this "Hey! Remember me?" post has left me feeling more positive and calm. Onward.
My wife has also been putting together some ideas for her own blog, which, from what I've seen, looks to be a really worthwhile collection of stories and inspirational quotes. She's had some health issues crop up in the past few years, and I think she wants to make her blog a place where people with similar problems can go to get in out of the rain. I'm glad she's doing it. She's a very creative person who doesn't get much opportunity to be creative. I'm proud of her.
Lastly, the idea of blogging again has really appealed to my current sense of legacy. I'd love to know what my Dad or my Grandfather were thinking as they made their way through life. Someday, I'll tell my daughter about this online journal, so that she can get a sideways peek into her own family history. It's a little more personal than if a third person was recollecting what I was like. As for me, even just writing this "Hey! Remember me?" post has left me feeling more positive and calm. Onward.
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