One person texted me to say he was at a speech given today at South by SouthWest, the infamous music and film festival. I’ve actually never been to SXSW (as it’s shortened name goes). A few years back I applied to get a showcase slot, but was denied. I haven’t actually given it much thought to go ever since. I’ve been to a bunch of festivals of this nature and they all tend to end up the same. Same info, same people, different location. The speech in question was being given by a friend of mine, Derek Sivers. A week or so ago I mentioned a video I was doing for him. Turns out he used that video during his speech. My friend who was there let me know that it had been used and he said it was pretty cool.

That’s a nice shot in the arm. I suppose I can now say that I’ve given a speech or talk at SXSW and I’ve never even been there. Kinda funny and flattering at the same time. Put a nice smile on my face.

I’ve got to get to making some more music before I head out for an evening of drinking festivities. Let me get to the song you’re hopefully hearing (if you’re reading this via the website that is). I think it’s appropriate to go with something festive for the day. Welcome to Riverdance. You’ve heard of it, but have you seen it and have you bought it?

Enjoy your Irish self!!

The real question is: can I be an effective leader. So far I’m finding that I need to be a bit more organized when getting everyone together. I like being off the cuff, but it seems that improvising may not be the best approach. Next meeting I will work on some ideas to lay out and give the sales peeps a way for them to make the decisions on licenses so that I don’t need to hold their hands. I think that’s probably going to be a very good thing to do.

After that it will be time to work on some music. I’m mid process in putting a whole disc of really short musical clips together. I’m talking 3 to 5 seconds short. I’ve got 25 and I need about 60. Roughly halfway to my goal. Doing about 10 per style. I’m able to crank out about 5 a day. So it shouldn’t take too much longer.

As soon as I have the sales people on their feet, I’ll be able to start getting back to my artist self and complete the writing of a bunch of songs I’ve mentioned here before.

Because I have a slightly different view of selling out in terms of the music, I’m going to roll with a song called Sell My Soul by Our Lady Peace. See, I want to sell out of merchandise. I want to sell out arenas. I want to be that popular that people want my music to resonate with people. I don’t see how that can harm artistic integrity. In a way I am looking at selling little bits of my soul. Each song is like a piece of me. When someone such as yourself buys a copy to love, cherish and listen to, well that makes me happy. As it should make you happy too.

Our Lady Peace has had some popularity. Though I would say this song is more from the standpoint of not wanting to sell out only for money. Meaning creating strictly for the cash and not for the internal artistic drive. I can fully understand that too. But as a musician who needs to make ends meet, that may not always be possible. I know I’ve written something for the money. But I poured my talent into it. So to me it still had some artistic quality to it. As does OLP’s song Sell My Soul. It’s got soul, so has it been sold out? I don’t think so.

The intro is spacey and surreal. I dig it. The song is dark, but I’m enjoying it. All because we do have ups and downs. Fortunately music has that ability to reflect that.

Enjoying a little darkness? Go explore their CD. Get it now!

It will take a few days to get that worked out I’m sure.

I am to the point where I feel the idea of daylight savings has run it’s course. Do we really need it any more?

Most musicians are considered night owls. Thus I’m going to go with a tune that I heard once years ago in the middle of the night. Oddly enough it’s a song called Moonlight in Your Blood. A great title to go with for having a longer night. I haven’t really read the lyrics. I can’t say that I would even begin to know what the hell the band is singing about. What really matters to me about this song is how ridiculously catchy the guitar parts are. How catchy the vocal melody is. How strong the presentation of the song is.

When a melody is that catchy it really doesn’t seem to matter how good the words are. If they are brilliant lyrics then it’s a major added bonus. I guess I should maybe pull apart the lyrics at some point and see if I can understand them. Hell, who am I kidding? I’ll stick to listening to the song and enjoying the guitar and vocals.

How about you?

Well, a couple of weeks ago he made a return to Hermosa Beach. Seems he got a little stir crazy living far from the city and in the heat. Today marks his homecoming party. So there will be a big group of us ready to party and have a good time.

It’s a sunny day and there will be some rockin going on at the beach, so I’m going to spice up the day with some Korn. Lets Get This Party Started. It’s got a little bit of an erie feel then the chorus kicks in and it’s stomps like a riot. Heavy, hard, and happy. That’s the vibe that happens for the group.

Have fun!

Today marks what will likely be the first of many meetings as they relate to the library and the people I’m bringing on board to be the sales reps or the licensing reps. I need to have them come up with a good title as to what they’d prefer to be called. We’ll be going over the music and the rate card and working on figuring out who will tackle what area of industries that need music. As the line goes: It’s all happening…

I’ve got to get out of here to run some errands before the meeting, so let me leave you with the following tune. It’s the perennial tune by Bob Karwin that sings about the main reason that people would move to California. A simple Jimmy Buffet style tune that harkens to the beach attitude the really embodies the southern California lifestyle for those who hang near the coast.

Hopefully the sun is coming out for you. It’s an early spring for sure!

Based on what I writing yesterday, I really like to keep the bar as high as I can. It means having to be painstaking about things. Especially when they’re going to a major label like Universal to be represented. It doesn’t help when the co-producer has to go out of town during the deadline. It makes it hard to get a quick reply as well as an answer when you need it to get the mix considered final.

Add to that wanting to get moving on finishing a book, a bunch of songs, music for the library, and getting a sales staff on it’s way to making goals happen. It means I need to jump into todays song and get a move on.

I’m rolling on These Words (I Love You) a remix of a song by Natasha Beddingfield. Obviously a song that has undergone a remix. A very fun remix. It’s the kind of thing that takes a fun song and makes it different and creative. It’s part of the reason I’ve been taking some of my new songs and allowing them to be remixed by friends of mine.

Natasha has created and then had remixed a very catchy tune. No doubt about it. A simple message and a catchy way to express it. Gotta love it.

The idea of being constantly connected is intoxicating. When a person can reached by any one of a multitude of ways it could very well be overbearing. Do I understand it? You betcha. A whole lot of my friends love to call me “Dot Com” as a joke. I’m usually on the first of any friend to be exploring a new service or idea. Like those bands I’ve been hearing about though, I’m starting to feel too much like a slave to the social services. Hell, I’m even a slave to this blog – and yes there are times when I consider dropping the concept of doing it daily, and therein it would mean either passing the reigns or shuttering it until further notice.

There are studies being done about services like twitter. One such now says that the average Twitter account is only following about 10 people and has about 10 followers and has only made about 10 tweets. Whole lotta 10’s there. What it doesn’t add up to is a perfect 10. The hoopla that occurred in the past two years has died on it and now the only thing that seems to drive that one is if something newsy happens – maybe it could also be truthyness. I know that I’ve tapered off on it a bit, to the point where some of my fellow tweeters started asking me what was up.

I didn’t have an answer at that time, but I’m coming to the conclusion that it’s because I’m not looking to be constantly juggling everything. Why? Because the music started to get neglected. Which led me to start thinking about something once said to me. It was about knowing what you love to do and what you hate to do. That’s very black and white, but there’s areas of grey that fall and social services are one of those things that are fun in spurts, but get a little draining when done all the time.

Back to the music. I’m thinking about all this I’m gonna roll with Too Much Too Little Too Late by the Jellyfish. I make it no secret that they are one of my favorite bands of all time and wrote some very amazing music. This song is specifically geared for a marriage that went bad, but it can be a good metaphor for anything where there’s too much that leads to too little that eventually goes nowhere.

Amazing vocals, killer instrument sounds, with an arrangement to die for. That’s the beauty of a band taking the right time to get the rights sounds for a great song. It’s a level of perfection to shoot for. It’s a bar that I like to shoot for and I seem to feel like I reach more often when I’m not focusing on the Internet.

If you haven’t got any Jellyfish, you need to change you life and get it now.

I also have to tweak on a mix that I was doing last night for a new song that will be going to a project heading to Universal Records. I’m getting everything as ready as I can so that I can drop the drum tracks in tomorrow.

Later today I’ll be heading to a little Apple function at a local computer music retailer. Why? I like to learn the software based on how others tend to use it. The guy who is demonstrating it is probably hands down the greatest guru for Logic that there is on the planet. Always something good to learn from someone who knows more than you. I like that.

Because I’m thinking about learning I’m going to dip into the archives of an artist that helped to propel rock n roll to the American masses. That’s right the sounds you’re hearing come from the famous Buddy Holly. I have no idea if he actually wrote this song, but if the Internet is correct, then yes Buddy did write this short little ditty.

It’s very much got a Buddy Holly style arrangement. Though I will the first time I heard the song, the strange sound jumping from the left speaker made me think there was something wrong with the recording until I realized it was muted guitar being raked on the strings. That’s Buddy, using sounds to create an effect while keeping the arrangement fairly simple.

If you’re not familiar with Buddy, it’s time to get so. So go buy his tunes.

It’s a different ball game when you know what should be charged. You then have to start standing firm when people attempt to low ball the value. It’s why I have to get sales people in to take care of the licensing.

I gotta get to the typing. I’ll leave ya with this tune for today…

A little Celtic ditty for ya. I’m feeling a bit shufflely today, so what better to have than a Celtic tune to get the bouncy feel off to a rolling start for the week. Maria certainly has that Irish sound going on. It’s a bit more organic than a processed major label thing, but it still works. In fact it’s the kind of song that I could hear at the underground pub that I’ve been too the last several months. Why? Because it’s very much an Irish style pub. The jams that occur there late at night do revolve around a Celtic nature which often is felt in 12/8 or lots of shuffle and triplet feels.

Diggin Maria, then go get her legally!