1) Getting another remix together.

2) Sent off the theatre budget. Now waiting for a red, yellow, or green light.

3) Another rockethub fueler. http://rockethub.com/projects/298-the-exploration-of-dangerous-places

4) Now scheduling other musicians into the studio.

5) Spent some time with Google Reader. I might be getting my head around it.

1) Good vocal progress in the studio tonight. Two more songs mostly done.

2) And it took an hour less than I had budgeted.

3) Awesome forum conversations on Ariel Hyatt’s site today.

4) I had an awesome customer service experience and told them so.

5) Had a great meeting about working on a big Civil War project.

1) My first day of pursuing getting my music in a web series has produced four people who have said “Sounds good. Let’s try it.”

2) Contacted two conventions where my music would be appropriate and got a good feeling.

3) Contacted four new venues. These might be long shots, but they are within the realm of possibility.

4) Good practice for a song I’m changing the key on. The altered melody is haunting.

5) Milo had a good day of potty training. This means that I had a good day of potty training.

On August 18 I made a public pledge to complete 7 goals by September 18. After 10 days, I have made some progress but need to step it up in a few area. Three Goals to Accomplish Every Month 1) Perform at one new venue a month Since I started pursuing new venues I booked 2 for October. That’s very cool. September might be a tight turn around, but to make my goal I might need to do a low key impromptu thing. I have a place in mind. 2) Make 2 submissions a month for an indie film/webseries I actually …

1) Three hours of election judge training for my 13th election.

2) A nice glass of red wine over Tru Blood.

3) Our DVR screwed up and deleted everything we had recorded. This is good because it helped confirm that we want to cancel cable and get NetFlix again.

4) An almost-abandoned song was going through my mind and it hit me: make it funny. Now it works.

5) Spent two hours messing with WordPress before remembering one of Tim Ferris’ mantras: Outsource what you can’t do and spend your time doing what you’re good at.

1) 750 calories on the elliptical.

2) Booked my first December show.

3) Jodi at Tom Jackson Productions wrote me a not-a-form-letter email and started a nice discussion.

4) Bought 4 shirts at Sears. That’s the most shirts I’ve ever bought at one time ever.

5) Discovered a niche subgenera that I may be a part of. Must fully investigate.

1) Teresa and Bill had another baby boy and didn’t name this one after me.

2) Playing a split show with Andrew Bromhal was good. I like his sound.

3) Being more aggressive about asking folks to sign up for my email list got me some emails.

4) Found two shirts at Kohl’s that aren’t stupid. Well, one shirt in two different colors.

5) Found some festivals at which I would be a great fit.

This weeks’ step is to make sure my website has form, function, and funk. There are five items, according to Ariel Hyatt , that are mandatory for my music website to achieve these goals. (Actually, she doesn’t really get into the funk. That’s my twist.) 1) Add Your Pitch To Your Homepage I have three pitches that I’m using for different purposes, and two are now on my homepage. Songs about being haunted is the page title and I write modern folk songs that exist where the natural …

1) A friend pitched my Rockethub.com project to Inc Magazine. The editor said “I think it could make a fun online story” and forwarded it to a reporter.

2) Better than average tips from tonight’s show.

3) Sold two CD’s at a venue that I normally sell none.

4) The new guitar I used tonight inspires the promise of a long relationship.

5)I remembered that it took an assassination threat from Public Enemy to get Arizona to enact Martin Luther King Day. It made me feel better about the ‘deport the Mexicans’ policy. It didn’t come out of nowhere, they’ve just been waiting for years to figure out who to hate next.

1) Got another remix back today. I'm saving them up for a special project

2) Spent a little more than 2 hours working on the new website. WordPress is sneaky but once I get it, I will be its master.

3) I started building a good list of local venues that pay with the help of Doug Alan Wilcox and Tomy Wright.

4) I came very close to giving up on my song Empty House. Then I changed the key. Yippie! Creepy.

5) Another fueler on my rockethub campaign. http://rockethub.com/projects/298-the-exploration-of-dangerous-places

1) Got confirmed as an election judge for my 13th election.

2) A very talented friend is making the big move to L.A. next month. His certain success makes me more confident.

3) I now know what kind of suit I should be wearing to Elizabeth and Andrew’s wedding in three weeks.

4) After today’s meeting, I am feeling quite optimistic about the benefit I am co-organizing.

5) Icooked a very tasty and creative lunch. Think I surprised a couple people.

1) Today I scheduled two shows for next month.

2) While I didn't finish recording the vocals for Haunted By You tonight, it's because we wrote three harmony parts.

3) I was at the studio from 8:30-11:15 and was only charged for 1.5 hours. I love my producer.

4) While messing around by lowering my stings two whole steps I found four songs that work better down there.

5) A surprising mini-spike in traffic to my site the last two days. 

“What kind of music do you play?” Two years ago I knew that I totally sucked at pitching my music. I would fumble around describing my music as something it most definitely was not. I don’t remember what I said but it had to do with grunge and alt acoustic Midwestern something. The reason, in retrospect, why I was unable to describe my music is because I didn’t know what kind of music I was playing. When I started playing out again my first goal was to get a two-hour set so I …

1) Wrote ¾ of a song while Milo was playing with some trucks.

2) Used www.fiverr.com to get one of my songs remixed. Will be ordering more.

3) My campaign on http://rockethub.com/projects/298-the-exploration-of-dangerous-places got its first two fuelers.

4) My friend DeAnna is having her first book published in November. http://www.doompress.com/ This means that my Christmas shopping is mostly done.

5) Scheduled another studio session for tomorrow.

1) Great performance idea for my song King Of Nebraska.

2) Restrung one of my new guitars and a new song fell out.

3) Good visit with Dad. Got ideas for his birthday presents which is not easy.

4) Burned 600 calories on the eliptical.

5) Getting back to healthy eating after the hickup that was Milo's birthday week.

1) There were no meltdows at Milo's birthday party. That includes adults as well as 3 year olds.

2) Old potty training plan wasn't working so we designed a new one that will start Monday.

3) My father gave me three guitars from his collection. The youngest is more than 20 years older than me.

4) My mother's visit this week was possibly the only one that didn't end in a fight.

5) Our fridge is full of fruit and veggies.

5 Successes 8/20

1) A whole day with my mom and no fights. You have no idea how significant that is.

2) I think Lisa and I had a good idea for a company that plays to both of our strengths.

3) Went to the overflowing storage unit and the thing I was looking for was right inside the door.

4) Potentially most incredible bonus track ever hit my ears.

5) Started a rockethub.com campaign.

I think this is reasonable. Every month I will do the following Perform at one new local venue a month over the next year Make 2 submissions a month for indie film and webseries projects Maintain between 3-6 shows a month By September 18 My website will be redesigned and launched The album I am currently recording (#3) will be 98% done and beginning mastering I will have found 50 blogs I like that I have begun to participate with them on a regular basis I will have identified 10 area venues that pay a …

Five Good Things About Today

1) My show at Grandale Farms went well. Tips were above average for this year and the owner told me that we had a "great relationship."

2) My website redesign took a good step forward.

3) A second person said something good about the Zune. As my 5th iPod is acting as stupid as my last 4, I feel like I might be able to make a brand change soon.

4) My brother called me while I was playing and I answered the phone onstage. It's his birthday, what else was I supposed to do?

5) After a total meltdown prenap, my almost-3 year old woke up with no sign of being cranky.

...is a book for musicians to “ Supercharge Your PR, Build Your Fan Base and Earn More Money. ” Sounds good. Ariel Hyatt is the founder of Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR , a company that focuses on helping indie musicians get their business together. I listen to a lot of podcasts and I’ve been running across her for a couple years now. I’ve always had the sense that she knew what she was talking about and now I have her book. The book maps out a series of steps that I should take …

I know I need to use Twitter more. I need to follow people and get them to follow me. If I get a bunch of Tweeps I can sell them my music and then I’ll make money. Lots of money. You have no idea how much money I could be making if only I gave a crap about Twitter. Truthfully, I used to care about Twitter. It went like this. I heard about it on This Week In Tech and thought it sounded dumb. Then they kept talking about it. My pal @tinaseamonster began to tweet and I though “Hey! She’s …

A few years ago, before stealing music online was bad, I found a bunch of searchable songs just sitting out there collecting dust. I thought to myself, “Hey! I’d like to find some songs about the ocean.” I poked around and discovered the Canadian band Great Big Sea . Accidentally, a handful of Great Big Sea songs appeared on my computer, so I listened to them. Over and over. I then bought 4 Great Big Sea albums. Around this time the song ‘Harrisburg’ by Josh Ritter also …

Sometimes Y was my first college band. We were an acoustic trio with me (guitar, vox), Bryant (guitar), and Tim (bass). We played a few small gigs, mostly out on the lawn by the big rock, and that was cool. After a year or so we accepted a spot on a Fraternity/Sorority variety show out of some vague notion that we needed to play in front of a big crowd. I think it was my idea (this was long ago). I think Bryant was cool with it but was most definitely not. As we got closer to the 1 song performance, Tim …

1. She has a dry sense of humor that requires you know something.

2. She is still nuts about Buffy The Vampire Slayer

3. There were times when it would have been easy for her to let her family slip away but she is loyal and works hard to overcome distance and personal belief issues.

4. When she becomes interested in something she does research. When she talks about something she is interested in, you can trust the source.

5. When she believes in you she will become an advocate. For example: backing your project on Kickstarter.com.

 

Thank you, Judy.

 

The most excellent CD artwork designed by the most excellent DC Cathro has been submitted and approved. The Master CD has been mailed. If you preordered the CD by backing my Kickstarter project, the CD should be in the mail to you by the end of the month. Probably sooner, unless disaster strikes and the dead rise up (again), in which case it may be later. Digital distribution should be complete by the end of the week. I’ve decided to use TuneCore instead of CDBaby this time. Here’s what …