Fave email I got last week:
“Love this email! Do you have a career in copywriting going on the side? I’m impressed and totally stealing ideas for more interesting communication to my clients!”
As you can imagine, BIG smile on my face, because, in fact… I DO have a copywriting operation going of sorts. Not on the side… as the main gig!
In case any of you have been wondering where the hell I’ve been. Outlandos Music became Outlandos Media. Not that music still isn’t a part of my life, just not so much part of my business anymore. If you miss me, you can still find me dabbling in music on THE DAILY DOSe. Otherwise, I’ll be out there continuing to “ghost-write” for various social media clients, dreaming up clever emails, marketing strategies, etc. like the one that email refers to, below:
(Me, as VP of Marketting for promonent indie music mag)
SUBJECT: in stores, on shelves… call us old-fashioned
Hey kids. By now, you’re used to me harassing you on a fairly regular basis. And I wanted to say how wonderful it is working with all of you. We really appreciate your business.
More importantly, we get that it’s a two-way street. We survive because you survive. And we like to think, vice versa. So if you haven’t received the superduper BLURT make-it-work-for-you sales treatment, you my friend, are missing out. Because that’s what we do around here. We make it work for you. We care about this business. And it takes all of us working together to keep it going. So thanks to all of you who do exactly that.
Speaking of… yet another BLURT Magazine makes its way to fine shelves everywhere March 29. The uncompromising PJ Harvey graces its cover, and in a revealing interview, discusses the historical obsessions that helped inspire her curiously titled latest album, “Let England Shake.” It’s our 10th issue! A milestone of sorts.
Thanks again to all of you who made it happen. If you’re not on our mailing list and would like a copy, please just ask. Even better… buy one. Either way, we look forward to gracing the bottom of your briefcase, the shelf in your bathroom or your beer stained coffee table.
FYI our next issue will be out this fall, see attached for details.
And if you happen to be in Austin right now… jingle up my man Stephen and buy his ass a beer: 919-619-2287.
Hey there! Off we go with another edition of IN SHORT, our monthly cornucopia of stuff — sometimes music stuff, sometimes not. This month’s theme: Laugh Your Ass Off (and Perhaps Squirm a Little). Enjoy.
1. Double Rainbow!
I found myself watching this, thinking, why am I watching this? This is stupid. Then: this is awesome. Then: this is stupid. Then: god dammit, this is really awesome. Trust me. Now, of course, I’m dying to have one of these. Full. On.
2. Yankee Prankee
It’s painful. But you have to watch this one to enjoy the next one. Admittedly, Amir is kind of a dick.
3. Million Dollar Shot
Streeter gets his revenge. And it’s beautiful…
xo
7/19/10 | Comments (0)Tags: double rainbow, IN SHORT —
Here we go with another edition of LETTERS FROM THE ROAD, our guest post series where we invite musicians we love love love to take over and write whatever they like. 2 rules: it has to be in the form of a letter, it has to have something to do with music. This week featuring Daniel Tashian, lead singer of The Silver Seas, literally my favorite band in the world (next to The Police). I’m totally serious. We featured them like gangbusters on the DAILY DOSE a few months back. Perhaps that’s because I’m a shameless superfan. You think?
FYI, the new record, Château Revenge, drops today.
Take it away Daniel…
Dear Bob Marley,
Well you’ve been gone for a while.
I heard you used to get your news from the radio — you and your homeboys in soccer shoes, huddled around a Jamaican transistor, listening to the BBC world service, strains of R & B from New Orleans.
I don’t know why that matters to me — I guess because I don’t watch much TV (the bullshit hype of CNN adds more static to the overcrowded airwaves now). But brother, there’s a lot of stuff you would dig:
• The Wire; you would like some of the technology.
• Sampling; you would probably do something really cool with it, sample some oppositional politician and make a song out of him.
• The Black Eyed Peas; I think you would dig them.
I remember seeing a photo of you (I think it was in South Africa) bringing white and black leaders together on stage, makin’ ‘em shake hands. I don’t think, in the end, it really did all you hoped it would but shit, you knew that. But the thing it DID do was to let everybody see that strange things happen. Me, I’m like a little lion cub…tugging on your mane. You are a big, beautiful, stately creature. There’s no comparison, I’m not even in the same profession as you, in a way.
But one thing we do share is we both like love songs. The pop stuff, when everybody said you “sold out” (Could You Be Loved, Satisfy My Soul, Waiting In Vain). That’s fantastic music. And, it’s where the Marvin Gaye creeps in. The Romantic Lion. I don’t know, maybe you prefer Duppy Conqueror and I would understand.
But I think we need somebody. The world is probably no more crazy now than it was then but it seems like it is. But there’s nobody like you, to cut through the static. There’s a bunch of cubs but not many lions. Well, maybe Bono. Everybody’s got to make a living I guess. Plus, you know, now, the emphasis is more on the party. At least as far as I can tell. There’s this chick called Ke$ha, and her songs are about getting fucked up and giving guys head. She’s real popular. Lady GaGa is kind of a “performance” artist. Sort of like Fame on steroids. Seems to be building a mythology — “GaGa-ism” — but what’s at the core of it? A “don’t be afraid to dream big” kind of message maybe.
Well. I guess I should let you go. I miss you. I heard you got real serious before you died. Real quiet and didn’t want to talk to anyone much. I get that. And I hate hospitals too.
Main thing is, there’s never been anybody that had it all like that before… Soul, Politics, Rock, Jazz, Funk. Maybe Femi Kuti, nowadays, but he’s not as good a singer as you were. Well I guess we just got to keep going. I mean what are the options? I didn’t write you to bitch, that’s boring. I guess, I’m just conscious of the fact that I feel the emptiness sometimes. And I want to hear that battle cry, that roar for peace in the jungle. I bet you had a lot of anger. I’m sure of it and who could blame you? You used it as an energy, though. I guess your candle still burns. It still inspires, and lights the way. Problem is, nobody wants to go down that path because you were so fucking great.
“Who do I think I am?” Well. I’ll try not to be intimidated by your massive paw prints. I put my paw inside it and realize I could put twenty of mine in one of yours. But at least I’m here. Peace be with you wherever you are. Soul brother, big brother.
Love,
Daniel
www.thesilverseas.net
Tags: Bob Marley, château revenge, daniel tashian, ke$ha, lady gaga, the black eyed peas, The Silver Seas —
Serving up another edition of LETTERS FROM THE ROAD, our guest post series where we invite musicians we are utterly nuts about to take over and write whatever they like. 2 rules: it has to be in the form of a letter, it has to have something to do with music. This week’s LETTERS FROM THE ROAD guest author is a friend and brilliant singer-songwriter who we adore, Jim Boggia:
Dear Taylor Swift,
We need to talk.
I want you to know up front that I really tried to find someone else to write to – someone else who could ease my pain, someone else who might not make me feel so bitter. But I am bitter, Taylor – bitter about things you’re probably too young to understand and that you probably, to be fair, are not so much responsible for as you are representative of.
You know where this is going. Yes, it’s the Grammy thing. That performance. You can’t sing. You took home four Grammys . . . . and you can’t sing. There’s a moment in the first chorus of ‘Rhiannon’ where you can see Stevie Nicks is visibly cringing at how flat you are singing. Let me make sure you understand this, because you’re young and this might be lost on you. This is not Stevie WONDER we’re talking about cringing at your performance, but Stevie NICKS, a woman who owes her career to sleeping with a genius guitar freak/audio architect. Because you see, that’s how it was done in the old days and we didn’t necessarily approve of it, but it got us laid, so ok – let the girl who likes to pretend she’s a witch sing a couple of songs. But even she still had to hit the notes.
How can I make you understand?
A long time ago, we had a group called the Beatles. You might have heard of them as they are now a video game. Anyway, we loved them so much that we even liked to hear their drummer, Ringo, sing one song an album, even though he couldn’t really quite hit the notes. But, the thing is Taylor, he was the DRUMMER. And we really loved the Beatles. And everything else they did was so groundbreakingly amazing. And it was only one song an album.
When you don’t hit the notes it’s different, and not in a good way. I know, I know, on your records, it sounds like you CAN hit the notes. But see, we’re sophisticated now and we know it’s auto-tune and that’s not your fault either but I still have to tell you that it’s no fun living in a world where it’s easier to make someone who looks like you do sound good than it is to make someone who sings like I do look good.
Which brings up another point. You know that song of yours? The one where she’s the cheerleader and you’re the unpopular outsider? Well, I’m having a hard time buying into that because – not to dwell on this but, um . . . . LOOK AT YOU. You can feel free to read this next sentence in the voice of Grandpa Simpson, but: In my day, girls who looked liked you WERE the cheerleaders and then, as now, girls who looked like you wound up getting the guy you talk about in that song. And music . . . Music . . . MUSIC . . . well, that was OUR territory – the folks who really were unpopular. You should check out a tune called ‘At Seventeen’ by Janis Ian. Then you should check out Janis Ian. I mean do a Google Images search. See? SHE was in the bleachers wearing a t-shirt, Taylor, not you. Can’t you just be happy being the cheerleader? Do the popular kids have to take over music, too?
But why am I blaming you? The popular kids took over our game a while ago. There was a bit of a back and forth tussle for a while, but there was a moment – it might have been when Kurt put the bullet through his head – that it was over, the cool kids won and popular music (not POP music, but music which is massively popular) became about being popular and not about making music. And it’s not just you – those guys in Franz Ferdinand can’t sing, either. And on and on. And on and on.
So, no – you are not to blame for this world that you find yourself in – a world that has been this way pretty much since you were born. But you were just given four Grammys. There was a time when you kinda had to be able to bring it, really have your craft down and then, if you caught a break or two, maybe you’d win a Grammy. The process is reversed now. You’ve been awarded your Grammys already. I hope you step up, work hard to really become a musician (and, most specifically, a singer – please learn how to sing) and earn them somehow retroactively.
To end on a positive note – I’m not going to tell you that Beyonce made one of the greatest videos of all time.
Musically Yours,
Jim
Tags: Beyoncé, Jim Boggia, LETTERS FROM THE ROAD, Stevie Nicks, Taylor Swift, the beatles —
Serving up another edition of LETTERS FROM THE ROAD, our guest post series where we invite musicians we are utterly nuts about to take over and write whatever they like. 2 rules: it has to be in the form of a letter, it has to have something to do with music. This week’s LETTERS FROM THE ROAD guest author is one of our favorite singer songwriters, Tim Easton:
Dear Young Songwriter Who Wrote Me on MySpace or Facebook and asked for advice:
I have so much to tell you but I should probably distill it down to the basics. This is what I would tell any young artist or student who stands in front of me wondering what to do in this massive and confusing world of art and commerce.
Basically, I can explain it in three chunks:
1. Read and listen to everything that came before now. Films too.
2. Leave home. Travel.
3. Bring something new to the tradition of your craft.
I would have to advise you to read and listen to anything you can get your hands and ears on.
Poetry: you should read it every day. Short stories, novels, all the classics. Get to it.
With music, you are going to have to step out of your comfort zone and visit the sounds and songs of those that came before the songwriters you are listening to now. Go back to the beginnings of your favorite genre. All of the greats studied the greats before them. If you are an American musician, you are doing yourself a dishonor by not listening to and studying the first American musicians who gave us jazz and the blues and the folk music that teaches you the chords and stories you need to know. There is a foundation there that is absolutely necessary if you wish you be a part of the constantly evolving family of musicians and artists, rather than the disposable, flavor of the month variety.
In North America, our “classical” music is jazz. Through serious suffering and eventual liberation came the blues. Finally, we were very fortunate to be the birthplace of rock and roll (disco, hip hop, etc.) and although we’ve had to have its message of ass shaking freedom re-explained to us time and time again by different generations from both sides of the pond, you won’t find any of the long term successful people in these musical genres that didn’t go back and study the greats that came before them.
You want to learn to write good songs? Then learn how to play the great songs of history. You like The Beatles? Learn Motown, Buddy Holly, and Cole Porter. Learn McCartney’s bass lines. You like M. Ward? Go listen to Roy Orbison or Louis Armstrong, Hoagy Carmichael, or Elmore James.
If you listened to every Kinks album and then every Sonic Youth album in a row you will have accomplished a few days of well spent research.
Woody Guthrie, Mississippi John Hurt, Robert Johnson, Doc Watson, Blind Willie McTell…they all have stories to tell, more down and dirty than any Stones tune. Learning songs by them will enable you to tell your own stories.
Go to the library and get all this education for free. You can sign up for a card and cruise your library’s collection on your computer, ordering books, films, and CDs to be picked up at your local branch. World music, classical music, avant-garde or modern sonic explorations, Mongolian throat singing: it’s all there waiting for you. While you are at it learn the names of some constellations, trees, and plants.
To me, it’s painfully obvious when a band or writer hasn’t bothered to listen to any albums that came before, say, Nirvana. Rock and roll and popular music/culture in general is more or less a young man/woman’s game-as far as music business goes-but as a lifestyle it can be permanent if you wish. Great art, or the individual expression of those trailblazers that came before can truly charge your creative batteries and help you grow as a person to embrace doing things just a little different from the status quo. You can find temporary happiness with what is current or you can go back in time and stand on the shoulders of the giants of storytelling, and therefore continue on in the tradition of learning and then creating something new out of your own experiences.
This leads me to my second point which is that you simply have to hit the road. I don’t care if you live in NYC or Nashville or LA (which is where you will most likely end up if you actually want to do something about a “career” in entertainment), if you are a young man/woman then you need to see another world besides the one you are accustomed to. Sitting around a coffee shop and talking about all the different things you want to do isn’t going to accomplish anything. If all North Americans could visit other nations, then we would have a more enriched culture and a better understanding of the world, and therefore be an even better country ourselves.
Go to Europe. Take your guitar. Hitch hike. Play on the streets. Meet some other travelers. Share a bottle of wine beside a famous river. Get laid. Fall in love. Get your heart broken. You don’t have to live life the way you have been taught you should, unless you would like to end up working in a cubicle.
Returning to your home town art scene isn’t a crime either. Enliven or participate in your community’s art and music scene by providing couches for those traveling musicians and artists who are on their way through. Throw house concerts. Form a musicians co-op and record company for you and your friend’s bands. Start a ‘zine, or participate in one that is already on the move.
Lastly, and this will most likely happen through experience, but you must bring something new to your craft. If it is songwriting, then add your own life experience to it. Whatever made you the unique individual you are today, put it inside your art.
There are some things I would like to point out that might assist you in achieving some of these goals, and though I didn’t say it before, you should indeed make some goals, and wake up every day and do something towards achieving them. Think it, believe it, do it.
— Tim
P.S. Did I mention that you should practice your instrument every day? Or write in your journal…or write down some of your dreams…or carry a pen and small pad with you at all times? I guess that is just too obvious.
P.S.S.How much time every day do you think Connor Oberst or Jack White or Jeff Tweedy or Chan Marshall or any songwriter/musician/artist you admire spends fucking around on MySpace or Facebook?
Exactly. Now start making plans to hit the road.
2/1/10 | Comments (5)Tags: CUT THROUGH THE NOISE, KATE BRADLEY, LETTERS FROM THE ROAD, OUTLANDOS MUSIC, Tim Easton —
