James

"I would advise you to keep your overhead down; avoid a major drug habit; play everyday, and take it in front of other people. They need to hear it, and you need them to hear it."

James Taylor

Back to school

I usually do not write a lot of personal info on this blog - but I wanted to make an exception today. For the past year I have been consulting at Thomas Dale High School in Chester, VA - working with the orchestra students on putting together a benefit concert for a local teenage cancer patient. The students worked on everything from song selection to arrangements, from poster and T-shirt design to the actual program, and from radio interviews to marketing and advertising. The result was a fantastic concert - performed by the Thomas Dale High School Orchestra and my band, Offering - with songs like My Immortal (Evanescence), Suddenly I see (KT Tunstall), and Sweet dreams are made of this (Eurythmics). It was unique in many ways - amazing original arrangements for rock band and orchestra and students taking the lead on a large chunk of the project being just two of them. If you are in the Central Virginia area, make sure you don't miss the concert next year, and for those of you who aren't - maybe we'll do some kind of an internet broadcast, or at least post something on YouTube.

This morning I was back at the school for a follow-up meeting with the students - and to start planning for next year. And since summer vacation is coming up - happy summer to all TDHS orchestra students, and thank you for the fantastic work you guys did! I look forward to making it even better next year. And congratulations to the graduating seniors..... I will miss working with you guys!

Gladys Knight - WOW

I actually enjoyed watching Gladys Knight during last week's American Idol finale perform with the top six female contestants of this season. Unlike some of the guest artists and mentors of this season, while she is not the youngest anymore, her voice still sounds amazing, and when I just looked her up on Billboard.com, I saw that she was born in 1944 - she's 63 years old, people! You GO, Gladys!

And did you know that she started performing with the Pips when she was only 8?

My favorite music blog....

.....is one I just found: The Secret Music Life of Kat. Kat, in her own words, is a thirty-something stay at home mom who has lots of ideas and needs an outlet. Her vision for the blog: "I love music. I love technology. I love business. This blog is a repository for ideas that pop into my head, interesting news that I read and hopefully for eventually creating a community of people who are interested in music and helping musicians use technology to promote their art."

I have only been reading her blog since last week, but I am hooked. I can find great music sites, the fantastic "forms to get a musician organized", links to other artists' blogs, concert ideas, info on record labels and on where to get free music - basically Kat rocks! How she does all does while being the mom to two toddlers and one newborn........ no idea! Check out Kat's music blog - you won't regret it.

Suzanne's second life

Singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega, who is releasing her first album in six years, Beauty & Crime" on July 17, has become more and more involved with online virtual reality platform Second Life. Last August, Vega performed "Tom's Diner" in avatar form within the world of Second Life.

I have to admit, I signed up for Second Life a few months ago, created my avatar, and checked around a bit - but I never took the time to really figure it out, and while my profile is still active, I have not been there in a while. Second Life is one of those internet places where you have to spend some time familiarizing yourself with the possibilities before you really start functioning well within its boundaries, and this little tidbit about Suzanne is motivating me to take a - no pun intended - second look.

Apple vs the record stores

Amaechi Uzoigwe, head of independent label Definitive Jux, said during this year's NARM (National Association of Recording Merchandisers) convention that he might be more inclined to have an artist appear at an Apple store than at a music store(Source: Billboard, May 12, 2007). He has a point: young music fans are not as inclined to visit a traditional record store as you or I did during our high school and college years. Which leads me to ask the question: where do you buy music? Here's a poll -let me know!

Shock

Melinda is voted off. If you don't know what that means, you have not been watching American Idol this season. Every blog that has anything to do with music has already weighed in to this, but for the record I just want to add to the countless posts: Melinda Doolittle was hands down the best vocalist Idol has ever seen, her being voted off in my eyes is a disgrace, and I am convinced that she will have a fantastic career ahead of her (I am sure there is quite a bit of discussion at different record labels today about potential deals they can offer her). I will watch the finals next week, but I won't enjoy it as much with the best singer out of the competition.

75,774

The U.S. music industry issued 75,774 album titles in 2006, or 15,000 more than the 60,331 albums that came out in 2005. Despite that jump, new-release sales dropped 9.4% last year to 220 million. (Source: Billboard Magazine, May 12, 2007)

We all know by now that physical CD sales are dropping - but still, more than 75,000 new CD releases? In the U.S. alone? Pretty amazing, if you ask me.

However, 55,516, or 73.3% of all new releases last year failed to even sell 100 units. Yikes. And suddenly the fact that our band sold 2400 CDs last year does not sound bad. At all.

Just some statistics for your thoughts.

If a musician plays, and no one listens.....

A few weeks ago I came across an interesting article in the Washington Post about world-class violinist Joshua Bell who played for 45 minutes during the morning rush in the DC metro L'Enfant Plaza station. The question posed in the article is interesting: "Each passerby had a quick choice to make, one familiar to commuters in any urban area where the occasional street performer is part of the cityscape: Do you stop and listen? Do you hurry past with a blend of guilt and irritation, aware of your cupidity but annoyed by the unbidden demand on your time and your wallet? Do you throw in a buck, just to be polite? Does your decision change if he's really bad? What if he's really good? Do you have time for beauty? Shouldn't you? What's the moral mathematics of the moment?" Read the article.... it's fascinating!

Save Darfur - the songs of John Lennon

I saw an interesting ad on the back of Billboard magazine this week: a recording project called Instant Karma - The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. It features new recordings of classic John Lennon songs by groups and artists like U2, Avril Lavigne, Corinne Bailey Rae, Snow Patrol, The Flaming Lips, Los Lonely Boys, Christina Aguilera, Green Day, R.E.M., and Lenny Kravitz. The project's goal is "to rally global support for the desperate people of Darfur", according to Yoko Ono.

The project is due in stores and online June 12.

Beatles on iTunes?

It looks like the Beatles' catalogue will finally makes its entrance on iTunes...... Paul McCartney's new album, "Memory Almost Full" will be released June 5 on iTunes and it's expected the Beatles' music will not be far behind. It's about time.....