Pretty gross to think about this month, great gigs, but moolah coming in is going bye bye, bye bye.
bye bye. Sigh.
To those of you artist entrepreneurs out there, to you producers out there, I offer an afternoon cocktail. erp. or three.
It's all coming up and I'm busting it every day. But the problems that get in the way, I create, they are my own, confusing, crazy problems.
When I pass into the great unknown, I hope I'm not remembered for being crazy.
A toast.
8.7.09
Resnikoff's Parting Shot...and my take
MJ.
It's not that I felt a profound sense of loss hearing about his passing. History teaches us that the biggest assholes and perverts and freaks, if their work is recorded, are remembered more for their work. Their madness is but a footnote, to be flamed and made into inacurate movies that even historians have problems separating from reality (Amadeus). Can you imagine when we are dead and eaten by wolves and vultures that MJ will be any different?
I didn't play footage of testimony in his court cases, nor his "Share your behhd" quote, or him obsessively changing his appearence, clawing at his face in self-loathing. Nope. I just played some of his best music, some of our best music.
I'll never forget being on the dance floor with my American Tenors producerFrank McNamara, Billy Boyd (Pip from Lord of the Rings) and his gaggle of girls, my wife and with Bono and the Edge holding court in the corner of this little small club in Dublin -- Dancing to Beat It. Holy Shit, it was an amazing night. And MJ connected the dots.
We were in the begining of the trial, when MJ was being trounced and pounded and hounded and every day was some new horrible thing...light kiddie porn for instance, so it wasn't like we were there unbeknownst. AND yet... when that song came on in that mid-December dance club, we BOLTED for the dance floor, forgetting the news of that wierd little man.
And so now it's just a matter for the historians... and even they won't know the whole story.
When you read Resnikoff's article, you may feel like, if only...If only I had some money. I could be Michael Jackson. Kid, watch out. Jackson was the drummer boy of the army that sold his beat. Think of this.
You've seen movies and images of the pipers and the flag wavers (standard bearers) in the Civil War and Revolutionary War, one good eye, arm in a sling, leading the battle charge. Well after the battle they are either in the hospital or dead. And if they are in the hospital, their compulsion is, if they can move, to go out there and do it again.
There is greatness in those actions, a certain noblesse to march out there with a flag or a drum or even better, a piccolo... and who would not remember that and take some amount of courage that their drummer boy would still banging the cans when they are deciding whether or not to lay in a pool of their own filth and vomit and blood, or to get up and give it another go, were they so lucky to have the presence and constitution to do so.
But for the drummer boy...wow. For the standard bearer, what a mind-blowing trip. All of these other people are there carrying guns and getting into the thick of it and there they are, waving a damn flag. Rah rah. Beating on a hopelessly flat drum, playing on an incredibly dinky piece of metal. How could one not develop a complex? And imagine living, being in battle and all of these folks being killed and you are there, somewhat maimed, but NOT DEAD...
It's an allegory, so shut up, Ali.
Anyway, MJ, drummer boy to an industry. Is that how you want to be?
Of course my answer is yes, BY GOD, YES! If I can make your fight better, Yes! If the last memory you have has some kind of music in it, YES! If I am a better standard bearer than a gunner, YES!
I don't know why, but I've always been the guy who can lead a fight, but I've never been good at fighting. Im not saying if you take your eye off me, I won't give you a good one, but I am not a cool customer in a fight. I am evil and ruthless and... infinitely stupid. I loose my head, take chances and in video games, am usually the first guy with his avatar's head blown off. Paintball...I am a pointillist dream image.
But put me in a battle with a drum, so to speak, I am very effective. I'm not a general...but give me the piccolo and I can lead an army. Figuratively, of course...I am not a woodwind player.
For Michael Jackson leading the charge for all of his record execs and publicists and attorneys and doctors and realtors and and and, say a little thank you to your drummer boy. It is So very difficult to know it is your charge to lead, but with a soundtrack, a beat, a pipers piping, things are SO much easier. Resta in Pace, MJ.
___________________________________________________________________________
Resnikoff's Parting Shot: In Train Wreck We Trust...Michael Jackson is a tough one for parents, just like many other celebrity musicians passed away. The darkside is so difficult to ignore, and so hard to reconcile with all the reverence.
What do you tell your kids? Jackson is among the greatest entertainers, an indelibly influential musician and dancer, a smasher of racial boundaries, and among the most philanthropic of celebrities. On stage, MJ moved his feet with phenomenal grace; but offstage, he was a stumbling train wreck, addicted to surgeries, wild overspending, pills, and even boys - depending on who or what you believe.
But it was similar with other musical icons - Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, Kurt Cobain - at least in terms of the darker, self-destructive streak. Immense creativity sometimes walks with a demonic cousin, and somehow, society embraces and often celebrates the dysfunction, the substance abuse, the hard living.
And without the train wreck, some stars would never burn as bright. In the case of Michael, the endless attention on surgeries, molestation scandals, financial problems, and baby-dangling helped to prime the pump for a huge postmortem. It wasn't all great music and lovable charisma. In the end it feels like everything is forgiven, but John and Jane Doe loved the entertainment along the way.
If the public loves to build up celebrities only to break them down, then the destruction now seems so easy. Instead of kissing endless handler butts for celebrity access, paparazzi sources like TMZ are bull-charging in a different direction. Not only did TMZ break the story of the Jackson death, they've also broken the well-crafted images of so many celebrities. And the public, often mired in their boring routines, absolutely loves the spectacle.
But can the music industry create another disastrously huge star? Jackson drew huge amounts of cash from his recordings, but his stake in the Beatles publishing catalog proved the precipitous windfall. It took a thriving recording, publishing, touring, and overall music industry - and serious upfront investments - to create such a blizzard of cash. The next Michael Jackson may be just as talented, just as hungry - but this sort of megafame doesn't happen with just a ReverbNation account, a Mac and some DIY desire.
If Michael Jackson helped to break down racial barriers on MTV, then MTV helped to pump Michael Jackson within a much simpler, more focused media landscape. If Thriller the album helped to drive heavy foot traffic to physical record stores, then record stores helped to create a singular place to explore and purchase music - and boost the biggest stars. If Jackson boosted the bottom line of Epic Records for decades, then parent Sony Music (and CBS Records prior) helped to splash this star into a more concentrated, analog world.
Indeed, one hand washed the other, and the machine that was MJ was the product of a different media era. One that ultimately produced so much excess, so much money, and so much glare that Jackson simply fried under its weight.
That level of spotlight is so difficult to channel in the current, decentralized landscape, one characterized by shorter attention spans, endless options, more niches, less celebrity riches, and fewer superstars. Sure, talented musicians can corral their niches, and even squeak out a living. But superstardom may never be the same again - and viewed from the perspective of a struggling Jackson, that may be a good thing.
Paul Resnikoff, Publisher.
Permalink: http://www.digitalmusicnews.
25.6.09
2.4.09
Oy, Part duh.
Well things have changed a lot since my last big tell all cuss-fest. Grandma would not have been proud, but I don't think she could have blamed me.
We last left off where the IRS had basically sent us reeling and KCMETROPOLIS.org was in a death spasm.
Oh how a few months and a shifting wind can help. Hey! Interesting...I said last week that a recession is when you cannot catch a break.
Well, we caught a break.
Somehow Marcy has managed to stay alive, stay in her house and stay a major force in KCM. For that alone, I am more in awe of her than I have even been. And the fact that she still has her head screwed on tight is such a testament.
We both went into a deep, deep funk the past couple months though, as our dreams of helping our town out were about to be dashed into the ground...this has been a weekly occurrence, when just as we would get something figured out, the dam, held together by wizardry would crumble anew.
We finaly got to a point where while undergoing yet another major reconstruction of our budget and complete overhauling of the organization we were like, WTF are we doing here? This is madness!
Either there is a way to do this or there's not. If there is, fine. If not, I quit.
Turned down by yet another funder, no work and the tax-man coming knocking on my door, I was not averse to quitting and taking the loss and saying buh, buh to KC, who could have given a crap.
Then the wind started to turn. I think it was God coughing at first, really. Hack!
The IRS granted our 501c3.
This was a brief moment of joy as we realized, what good is a not-for-profit without a cent? The only chance we had left was Bank of America. The only chance. Otherwise the poorhouse for Marcy. and me, well who knows. I only say the poorhouse for Marcy because she was the one with her time in the chair, editing and posting. And since the site was all manual, fifteen stories a week was a lot to handle.
Contacting writers, presenters, scheduling tickets and blah blah, and finally posting the articles was mostly her. Me? I was trying to get money for mortgage and really, trying to keep some semblance of a career going, as I had no idea that it would take such a long time to get KCM...nowhere.
Oh, I helped and tried as best I could to research and build a new website, and as the waves of positive news would come in every once in a while, meaning, one week we heard from Bank of America that we would be getting funding..and so therefore, we would plan to meet with our web-programmers, and I would go into intense long stretches of, learning about Content Management Systems and Joomla! and CSS and RSS and, the next we would hear from Bank of America that they still had some questions about this and that and we wouldn't be getting this much funding but there may be a chance for ...
I know this may not make much sense, but feel free to clarify, as this is going into the story of KCMETROPOLIS.org someday anyway.
I told Marcy that I felt like I was inflicting wounds on myself, deciding yet another week to keep going. Oh the pain.
Really, it was damaging to continue. But where the pain would not be, there was also the realization that KCM would not exist. AND furthermore, all of my colleagues, all doing fantastic work facing oblivion. Where the answer to the question of the tree falling in the forest is, no, there is no sound.
There is only some hiker to come accross a dead fallen tree someday.
Wow, what a fate. One can lay fault on any number of things, but who cares really. The outcome is worse than finger pointing. The loss of a dynamic culture, unable to be documented...
Think of it. Noone comes and reviews a painter's gallery show... well, that artist still has their painting.
Noone comes and sees a performing artist's show... it never happened.
So, contemplating that, what was I letf with? Giving everything away? career suicide? Not to mention my wife!
Augh!
So I put on a fresh pot of coffee and just kind of said, I'm doing both. But first I had to get some income generated.
Topics?
The everlasting Hymn CD? yes.
Frank Sinatra? Yes
opera? no.
It's really hard to tell you what happened first. As sleep is something of a misnomer when you are driven AND desperate.
Oh! The www.NathanGranner.com website.
So I finally decided to kick in the dough to get a modular website done. like 14 bucks a month. really a lot right now, bt whatever.
going to the site bandvista.com I was like, hey, this is pretty cool. Basically I put my website together in a few hours. Not great, but it's not 15k, like the KCM designers were talking about.
Infact, I kind of like the straight ahead way it's put together. It could use a bit more customization, but overall,sa'llright.
Then I hooked up with www.Artistdata.com, a site that spreads your calendar to a number of different social websites...hm.
I'm thinking, wow, there's got to be a way to do this for KCM.
Two weeks later, I found it.
Coincedentally, Bank of America came through with some support. Not a lot, but for what we are about to be doing, just enough. just barely enough.
No there's still no pay. And yes, I'm still trying to cull together the career. Though there are gigs...which you can find on www.nathangranner.com calendar page, fed to you by www.artistdata.com
More than anything though, is hope.
Hope that the ship will come in.
KCMETROPOLIS.org will be opening its new site on April 29, and let me tell you, it's a thing of beauty. ANd hopefully, it will lead to other things, that will allow us to more substantially support it and even more importanly than that, its many writers and contributors.
Let me finish by paying homage to them.
It's the contributors who have given us the ability to have the choice of whether or not to lacerate ourselves and continue. We could lash ourselves to the masts and hold on, but if there's no ship that separates us from the water, there is only oblivion.
It has been the dedication of each of these individuals to keep writing, keep covering what happens in KC that has allotted us this rare opportunity to grasp with success.
More later...
Nathan
We last left off where the IRS had basically sent us reeling and KCMETROPOLIS.org was in a death spasm.
Oh how a few months and a shifting wind can help. Hey! Interesting...I said last week that a recession is when you cannot catch a break.
Well, we caught a break.
Somehow Marcy has managed to stay alive, stay in her house and stay a major force in KCM. For that alone, I am more in awe of her than I have even been. And the fact that she still has her head screwed on tight is such a testament.
We both went into a deep, deep funk the past couple months though, as our dreams of helping our town out were about to be dashed into the ground...this has been a weekly occurrence, when just as we would get something figured out, the dam, held together by wizardry would crumble anew.
We finaly got to a point where while undergoing yet another major reconstruction of our budget and complete overhauling of the organization we were like, WTF are we doing here? This is madness!
Either there is a way to do this or there's not. If there is, fine. If not, I quit.
Turned down by yet another funder, no work and the tax-man coming knocking on my door, I was not averse to quitting and taking the loss and saying buh, buh to KC, who could have given a crap.
Then the wind started to turn. I think it was God coughing at first, really. Hack!
The IRS granted our 501c3.
This was a brief moment of joy as we realized, what good is a not-for-profit without a cent? The only chance we had left was Bank of America. The only chance. Otherwise the poorhouse for Marcy. and me, well who knows. I only say the poorhouse for Marcy because she was the one with her time in the chair, editing and posting. And since the site was all manual, fifteen stories a week was a lot to handle.
Contacting writers, presenters, scheduling tickets and blah blah, and finally posting the articles was mostly her. Me? I was trying to get money for mortgage and really, trying to keep some semblance of a career going, as I had no idea that it would take such a long time to get KCM...nowhere.
Oh, I helped and tried as best I could to research and build a new website, and as the waves of positive news would come in every once in a while, meaning, one week we heard from Bank of America that we would be getting funding..and so therefore, we would plan to meet with our web-programmers, and I would go into intense long stretches of, learning about Content Management Systems and Joomla! and CSS and RSS and, the next we would hear from Bank of America that they still had some questions about this and that and we wouldn't be getting this much funding but there may be a chance for ...
I know this may not make much sense, but feel free to clarify, as this is going into the story of KCMETROPOLIS.org someday anyway.
I told Marcy that I felt like I was inflicting wounds on myself, deciding yet another week to keep going. Oh the pain.
Really, it was damaging to continue. But where the pain would not be, there was also the realization that KCM would not exist. AND furthermore, all of my colleagues, all doing fantastic work facing oblivion. Where the answer to the question of the tree falling in the forest is, no, there is no sound.
There is only some hiker to come accross a dead fallen tree someday.
Wow, what a fate. One can lay fault on any number of things, but who cares really. The outcome is worse than finger pointing. The loss of a dynamic culture, unable to be documented...
Think of it. Noone comes and reviews a painter's gallery show... well, that artist still has their painting.
Noone comes and sees a performing artist's show... it never happened.
So, contemplating that, what was I letf with? Giving everything away? career suicide? Not to mention my wife!
Augh!
So I put on a fresh pot of coffee and just kind of said, I'm doing both. But first I had to get some income generated.
Topics?
The everlasting Hymn CD? yes.
Frank Sinatra? Yes
opera? no.
It's really hard to tell you what happened first. As sleep is something of a misnomer when you are driven AND desperate.
Oh! The www.NathanGranner.com website.
So I finally decided to kick in the dough to get a modular website done. like 14 bucks a month. really a lot right now, bt whatever.
going to the site bandvista.com I was like, hey, this is pretty cool. Basically I put my website together in a few hours. Not great, but it's not 15k, like the KCM designers were talking about.
Infact, I kind of like the straight ahead way it's put together. It could use a bit more customization, but overall,sa'llright.
Then I hooked up with www.Artistdata.com, a site that spreads your calendar to a number of different social websites...hm.
I'm thinking, wow, there's got to be a way to do this for KCM.
Two weeks later, I found it.
Coincedentally, Bank of America came through with some support. Not a lot, but for what we are about to be doing, just enough. just barely enough.
No there's still no pay. And yes, I'm still trying to cull together the career. Though there are gigs...which you can find on www.nathangranner.com calendar page, fed to you by www.artistdata.com
More than anything though, is hope.
Hope that the ship will come in.
KCMETROPOLIS.org will be opening its new site on April 29, and let me tell you, it's a thing of beauty. ANd hopefully, it will lead to other things, that will allow us to more substantially support it and even more importanly than that, its many writers and contributors.
Let me finish by paying homage to them.
It's the contributors who have given us the ability to have the choice of whether or not to lacerate ourselves and continue. We could lash ourselves to the masts and hold on, but if there's no ship that separates us from the water, there is only oblivion.
It has been the dedication of each of these individuals to keep writing, keep covering what happens in KC that has allotted us this rare opportunity to grasp with success.
More later...
Nathan
23.2.09
20.2.09
15.2.09
10.2.09
9.2.09
27.12.08
Oy
I guess no matter what it takes, doesn't matter when fate is against you.
God, It fucking sucks. Sometimes I feel like the biggest loser... and not in weight. Right now I fee like I am in a whirlwind of crap, where things just will not work.
I don't think I've written much here since we started KCMETROPOLIS.org
The other blog, which is all about smiles and rainbows and causes has had more of a chance in the past seven months to be a focus and a positive conduit of how things are supposed to work. This could be edited.
To say I am all a jumble would be accurate right now.
Today we found out that the IRS just pulled a fakie. I can barely write right now...for you who are experiencing this, I'm going to put my emotional text as blue, so you may have a better chance of following what I am talking about.
Maybe I'll just keep writing...
Both hemispheres of my brain are clicking right now. The tops, mostly the left shere is all tingly. I'm so afraid that I am learning the wrong lesson right now, that the grooves are being etched in the wrong direction.
Just keep staring at the light.
You know, I wish this were some great piece of writing, and that this completely crazy writing were all by design, but I'm just not capable right now.
Fuck, I am so fucking upset right now.
I should have been blogging here all along so you'd know the daily struggle it has been to put KCM together and keep my career together. Now, I have to start at the top and hope that I have enough clarity and time to tell you all that happened.
Breather...
By the way
Thank you Animal Collective. I'm listening to their new album Merriweather Post Pavillion, which is helping a lot to keep me from crying. How's that for a review?
Seven months ago, my friend Marcy Chiasson and I embarked upon a new partnership to try and save the performing arts community in Kansas Cty. A burgeoning city with a great performing arts scene and cowboy attitude to go along with it, we had just lost our critic and imprompteur on the performing arts at the Star, Paul Hosely, laid off, position not being replaced.
Indeed, aside from all the peripheral regs, The JC Sun, KC Stage, The Pitch and uhh, that's about it...Paul was the dude who was the most widely read, widely sought after and widely respected as a journalist and a critic.
His work was herculean, covering three events a day sometimes. This is not to say others were absent, but his was the ubiquitous old world post, the critic you read. With so many events, he could not possibly cover all the goings on here in the city, but at least he was able to get the big stuff as well as a good smattering of the independant purveyors of performing arts.
OK, must pause. Animal Collective doesn't go with this anymore. I guess If you are at your wits end and you need solace, They are a go to group... Switching to Panda Bear.
nope.... Come on Nina
Ok.
Nina Simone
So, Marcy and I, knowing what would happen, there goes the audience.
But the thing was, I had been doing...as the title of this blog says... It All. I had an agenda. Getting out of the Admin back-office of the music biz and just being an artist.
That's it.
Sure, doing lot's of producing and what not, but only in context of me singing. I spent five years learning the ropes of how to be an admin, Artistic Director, General Director, President, Janitor... because I thought I had made it as a singer and that I could use my record contract as a bolster while I pursued stuff I will be relegated to, when I may not be able to sing, or when I retire.
But there can be only one.
Either you spend all of your time doing one thing, or you spend all of your time doing another thing. If you try to do both, you lose.
It is very easy to tell in business that you need to put more time in. As an artist, there are all sorts of other factors. There's inspitarion for one thing. But just because you don't spend your time being inspired to write or create, even to learn your parts and interpret and translate, there's always updating your bio, getting new headshots, networking, researching for those specific projects.
SO I was transitioning away from the shotgun career back to the specific...The fact that I can make this choice is amazing and I am humbled that I have support to be able to be a singular person, once again.
But the KCMETROPOLIS.org was the last project before sequestering myself back in front of the piano.
The singular determination Marcy and I had to make this organization run is remarkable, only that it's what one is supposed to do to make it work.
Here's where the suck part of it happens and... at that I am going to leave for part two.
I feel much better though. Like a normal human being again...though one with a huge problem on his hands.
Thanks for reading, Kids.
God, It fucking sucks. Sometimes I feel like the biggest loser... and not in weight. Right now I fee like I am in a whirlwind of crap, where things just will not work.
I don't think I've written much here since we started KCMETROPOLIS.org
The other blog, which is all about smiles and rainbows and causes has had more of a chance in the past seven months to be a focus and a positive conduit of how things are supposed to work. This could be edited.
To say I am all a jumble would be accurate right now.
Today we found out that the IRS just pulled a fakie. I can barely write right now...for you who are experiencing this, I'm going to put my emotional text as blue, so you may have a better chance of following what I am talking about.
Maybe I'll just keep writing...
Both hemispheres of my brain are clicking right now. The tops, mostly the left shere is all tingly. I'm so afraid that I am learning the wrong lesson right now, that the grooves are being etched in the wrong direction.
Just keep staring at the light.
You know, I wish this were some great piece of writing, and that this completely crazy writing were all by design, but I'm just not capable right now.
Fuck, I am so fucking upset right now.
I should have been blogging here all along so you'd know the daily struggle it has been to put KCM together and keep my career together. Now, I have to start at the top and hope that I have enough clarity and time to tell you all that happened.
Breather...
By the way
Thank you Animal Collective. I'm listening to their new album Merriweather Post Pavillion, which is helping a lot to keep me from crying. How's that for a review?
Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country...or whatever
Seven months ago, my friend Marcy Chiasson and I embarked upon a new partnership to try and save the performing arts community in Kansas Cty. A burgeoning city with a great performing arts scene and cowboy attitude to go along with it, we had just lost our critic and imprompteur on the performing arts at the Star, Paul Hosely, laid off, position not being replaced.
Indeed, aside from all the peripheral regs, The JC Sun, KC Stage, The Pitch and uhh, that's about it...Paul was the dude who was the most widely read, widely sought after and widely respected as a journalist and a critic.
His work was herculean, covering three events a day sometimes. This is not to say others were absent, but his was the ubiquitous old world post, the critic you read. With so many events, he could not possibly cover all the goings on here in the city, but at least he was able to get the big stuff as well as a good smattering of the independant purveyors of performing arts.
OK, must pause. Animal Collective doesn't go with this anymore. I guess If you are at your wits end and you need solace, They are a go to group... Switching to Panda Bear.
nope.... Come on Nina
Ok.
Nina Simone
So, Marcy and I, knowing what would happen, there goes the audience.
But the thing was, I had been doing...as the title of this blog says... It All. I had an agenda. Getting out of the Admin back-office of the music biz and just being an artist.
That's it.
Sure, doing lot's of producing and what not, but only in context of me singing. I spent five years learning the ropes of how to be an admin, Artistic Director, General Director, President, Janitor... because I thought I had made it as a singer and that I could use my record contract as a bolster while I pursued stuff I will be relegated to, when I may not be able to sing, or when I retire.
But there can be only one.
Either you spend all of your time doing one thing, or you spend all of your time doing another thing. If you try to do both, you lose.
It is very easy to tell in business that you need to put more time in. As an artist, there are all sorts of other factors. There's inspitarion for one thing. But just because you don't spend your time being inspired to write or create, even to learn your parts and interpret and translate, there's always updating your bio, getting new headshots, networking, researching for those specific projects.
SO I was transitioning away from the shotgun career back to the specific...The fact that I can make this choice is amazing and I am humbled that I have support to be able to be a singular person, once again.
But the KCMETROPOLIS.org was the last project before sequestering myself back in front of the piano.
The singular determination Marcy and I had to make this organization run is remarkable, only that it's what one is supposed to do to make it work.
Here's where the suck part of it happens and... at that I am going to leave for part two.
I feel much better though. Like a normal human being again...though one with a huge problem on his hands.
Thanks for reading, Kids.
Machine perfect
Shout out to the bangers and the hoes who hang at the plant. This place smells like coffee and has light wood fixtures all over, making for a light airy feeling in the spacious confines.
The stupid machine makes non-folger-like coffee, much to my chagrin, as I like to drink water that has the consistency of a depression era cafeteria toilet. I used my credit card which allowed me to be charged less for a "regular" cup of joe.
The clerk told me not to order the wheatgrass, which I did. It tasted like peas meshed with moldy corn.
If I had liked any of these things I probably would have at least four and half starred, so tough sh#t you philistines.
Bookmark
Compliment
Send Message14.10.08
new company
In light of DO-ing it all, here's the new company arts marketer Marcy Chiasson and I started in Kansas City.
Kansas City's new online journal of the performing arts, offering definitive columns, reviews, previews, videos pertaining to KC and the surrounding region.
It's been months in the making and we are being presented by www.PresentMagazine.com until we get our own cool site built.
Thanks to them, not only for their generosity, but also for their coverage of culture and lifestyle in KC.
We are doiing it all!!
We even have a board!!!
30.8.08
A little thing!
For Immediate Release
ArtsKC Fund Announces New Inspiration Grants
Kansas City, Mo. (August 27, 2008) — The Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City Board of Directors approved $10,500 in new ArtsKC Fund Inspiration Award funding today for nine projects by local artists. Grants in the Inspiration category support projects that will have significant impact on an artists’ career, cultivate creativity and contribute to the artistic vibrancy of Kansas City.
This is the second of three rounds of Inspiration awards for the 2008 grant cycle. In the first round last spring, 10 proposals were funded for a total of $12,674.
“This round of Inspiration awards is helping to fund a number of unique arts projects and interesting collaborations. The breadth of disciplines covered by these awards really reflects the diversity of talent among artists in Kansas City,” says ArtsKC Fund Grants Director, Paul Tyler.
Second Round of Inspiration Grants, 2008:
Ahmed Alaadeen: $1,000
Jazz saxophonist and Kansas City legend Ahmed Alaadeen will develop and publish a jazz methods manual targeted to jazz students of all academic backgrounds. It will allow them to learn from Alaadeen’s 50+ years of jazz performance and will be supplemented by rich details on Kansas City’s jazz heritage.
Beau Bledsoe, Nathan Granner, and Mike Hill: $1,000
Guitarist Beau Bledsoe, singer Nathan Granner, and visual artist Mike Hill are teaming up to produce a presentation of the songs of Franz Schubert accompanied by a commissioned video work. While they have toured “Schubertiad” before, Inspiration funding will help enhance the program with a video work from Hill and projection equipment for touring.
Julia Denesha: $1,000
Photographer Julia Denesha will install a photography exhibit of 45 framed prints documenting her images and portraits of Slovakian ‘Roma’ or gypsies that were created over several years that she spent living with families throughout Eastern Europe. The images capture their stories and struggles through the lens of her camera. Inspiration funding will partially fund the printing and framing of the prints.
Lisa Marie Evans: $2,000
Filmmaker Lisa Marie Evans has created the documentary, “The Same But Different,” which explores the life roles of four transgender persons in the Midwest including: a fundamentalist Christian anarchist, a Catholic Republican, your average single guy; and a comedian and parent of two. Although the film has already premiered at Kansas City film festivals, funding is needed to support post-production costs and efforts to successfully complete and distribute the film.
GEAR (Mark Schweiger), Hector Casanova, Lori Raye Erickson and others: $1,000
Visual artist GEAR is organizing a pair of group shows in September and October at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center that will explore underground art such as graffiti, comics and tattooing. The show will have two components: a commissioned exhibit of eight local ‘lowbrow’ artists’ paintings, and mixed media work and live mural painting from the eight artists. Inspiration funding will support the supplies necessary for the live portion of the exhibition.
Tex Jernigan: $1,000
Visual artist Tex Jernigan is creating a new interactive sculpture/installation project that he will take on tour throughout the Midwest and East coast. He will build a 50’x 5’ oval-shaped pool and take portraits of patrons in the pool, using its reflective properties to display the sky and clouds above. Although he has tested this approach with a small prototype, this grant will help fund the materials to construct the full pool which will be suitable for touring.
Ascot J. Smith: $500
Filmmaker and visual artist Ascot Smith has created the short science-fiction film, “The Last Man of Idaho,” as the story of a daydreaming struggling artist who finds a talking potato that provides guidance in life. The film is completely comprised of digital photographic stills. While the film is complete, funding will be used for post-production expenses, including audio editing.
Mark Southerland & Jeff Harshbarger: $1,000
Jazz musicians Mark Southerland and Jeff Harshbarger are organizing a concert series for the public featuring a core group of musicians who are highly invested in “deep improv.” The concerts are planned to take place on the rooftop terrace of the Kansas City Library central location in downtown Kansas City.
Heidi Stubblefield: $2,000
Arts educator, actress and director Heidi Stubblefield wrote and produced “The Coppelia Project: A Clown Ballet in Three Acts,” a nonverbal movement piece that debuted at the Kansas City Fringe Festival in July 2008. The show was developed to be a touring production, and Inspiration funding will assist in building a portable set and creating an enhanced sound design commensurate with current professional touring standards.
Letters of inquiry from artists interested in applying for the third and final round of 2008 grants are due November 14, 2008. Visit http://www.artskc.org/ for more details.
About the ArtsKC Fund
The ArtsKC Fund is a united arts fund in the metropolitan Kansas City area that raises new money to support a wide range of arts organizations and programs. Its purpose is to provide stable sources of new financial support for the arts, broaden access to high-quality arts experiences, and sustain excellence in the arts and arts administration. The ArtsKC Fund is an initiative of the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City, a not-for-profit organization that serves the five-county Kansas City metropolitan area, and strives to strengthen and enrich the community by growing appreciation, participation and support of its arts resources. For more information about the ArtsKC Fund, visit http://www.artskc.org/.
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ArtsKC Fund Announces New Inspiration Grants
Kansas City, Mo. (August 27, 2008) — The Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City Board of Directors approved $10,500 in new ArtsKC Fund Inspiration Award funding today for nine projects by local artists. Grants in the Inspiration category support projects that will have significant impact on an artists’ career, cultivate creativity and contribute to the artistic vibrancy of Kansas City.
This is the second of three rounds of Inspiration awards for the 2008 grant cycle. In the first round last spring, 10 proposals were funded for a total of $12,674.
“This round of Inspiration awards is helping to fund a number of unique arts projects and interesting collaborations. The breadth of disciplines covered by these awards really reflects the diversity of talent among artists in Kansas City,” says ArtsKC Fund Grants Director, Paul Tyler.
Second Round of Inspiration Grants, 2008:
Ahmed Alaadeen: $1,000
Jazz saxophonist and Kansas City legend Ahmed Alaadeen will develop and publish a jazz methods manual targeted to jazz students of all academic backgrounds. It will allow them to learn from Alaadeen’s 50+ years of jazz performance and will be supplemented by rich details on Kansas City’s jazz heritage.
Beau Bledsoe, Nathan Granner, and Mike Hill: $1,000
Guitarist Beau Bledsoe, singer Nathan Granner, and visual artist Mike Hill are teaming up to produce a presentation of the songs of Franz Schubert accompanied by a commissioned video work. While they have toured “Schubertiad” before, Inspiration funding will help enhance the program with a video work from Hill and projection equipment for touring.
Julia Denesha: $1,000
Photographer Julia Denesha will install a photography exhibit of 45 framed prints documenting her images and portraits of Slovakian ‘Roma’ or gypsies that were created over several years that she spent living with families throughout Eastern Europe. The images capture their stories and struggles through the lens of her camera. Inspiration funding will partially fund the printing and framing of the prints.
Lisa Marie Evans: $2,000
Filmmaker Lisa Marie Evans has created the documentary, “The Same But Different,” which explores the life roles of four transgender persons in the Midwest including: a fundamentalist Christian anarchist, a Catholic Republican, your average single guy; and a comedian and parent of two. Although the film has already premiered at Kansas City film festivals, funding is needed to support post-production costs and efforts to successfully complete and distribute the film.
GEAR (Mark Schweiger), Hector Casanova, Lori Raye Erickson and others: $1,000
Visual artist GEAR is organizing a pair of group shows in September and October at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center that will explore underground art such as graffiti, comics and tattooing. The show will have two components: a commissioned exhibit of eight local ‘lowbrow’ artists’ paintings, and mixed media work and live mural painting from the eight artists. Inspiration funding will support the supplies necessary for the live portion of the exhibition.
Tex Jernigan: $1,000
Visual artist Tex Jernigan is creating a new interactive sculpture/installation project that he will take on tour throughout the Midwest and East coast. He will build a 50’x 5’ oval-shaped pool and take portraits of patrons in the pool, using its reflective properties to display the sky and clouds above. Although he has tested this approach with a small prototype, this grant will help fund the materials to construct the full pool which will be suitable for touring.
Ascot J. Smith: $500
Filmmaker and visual artist Ascot Smith has created the short science-fiction film, “The Last Man of Idaho,” as the story of a daydreaming struggling artist who finds a talking potato that provides guidance in life. The film is completely comprised of digital photographic stills. While the film is complete, funding will be used for post-production expenses, including audio editing.
Mark Southerland & Jeff Harshbarger: $1,000
Jazz musicians Mark Southerland and Jeff Harshbarger are organizing a concert series for the public featuring a core group of musicians who are highly invested in “deep improv.” The concerts are planned to take place on the rooftop terrace of the Kansas City Library central location in downtown Kansas City.
Heidi Stubblefield: $2,000
Arts educator, actress and director Heidi Stubblefield wrote and produced “The Coppelia Project: A Clown Ballet in Three Acts,” a nonverbal movement piece that debuted at the Kansas City Fringe Festival in July 2008. The show was developed to be a touring production, and Inspiration funding will assist in building a portable set and creating an enhanced sound design commensurate with current professional touring standards.
Letters of inquiry from artists interested in applying for the third and final round of 2008 grants are due November 14, 2008. Visit http://www.artskc.org/ for more details.
About the ArtsKC Fund
The ArtsKC Fund is a united arts fund in the metropolitan Kansas City area that raises new money to support a wide range of arts organizations and programs. Its purpose is to provide stable sources of new financial support for the arts, broaden access to high-quality arts experiences, and sustain excellence in the arts and arts administration. The ArtsKC Fund is an initiative of the Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City, a not-for-profit organization that serves the five-county Kansas City metropolitan area, and strives to strengthen and enrich the community by growing appreciation, participation and support of its arts resources. For more information about the ArtsKC Fund, visit http://www.artskc.org/.
###
9.8.08
There is no Win in today
At the risk of sounding maudlin in the title, I'm here to tell you I'm not feeling that way...AT ALL.
AT ALL.
For years I have been searching for something to call today's Classical Music.
It's odd, but I'm not sure I can self describe, self-prescribe a nominative for a culture that prides itself on the heavy weight of History.
I don' e'n know if I can comment on it anymore. Eevn commenting on it, I think seems to diminish the actual presence that we need to have in classical music.
Classical music, is alive and well. It is not dead, nor will it ever be dead.
Either that, or I may be looking well, let me strike that last comment.
classical music is dead...As we have known it to be.
The forms still exist and the black noted on white pages still exist and the sounds still exist, but when you look at it as a commentary on today, classical music as a panacea, I think it may not have the quality it once had.
The quality of
I'm better than you.
With all of the music out there all jumbled into trillions of gigs of information, I think we miss the point of where we are. Today.
Today, sounds co-mingle like DNA understood to be vast and diverse yet only understood as parts, Parts that have specific meaning and yet have everything and nothing to do with any of the other parts. Some sections are telling atoms or moleculkes, or whatever to make SKIN, other parts of the code mean that cells combine. Simply combine. It's part of SKIN, but it's also part of HEART.
Sure it all means something. But it's part of the collection, myriads of commands, shoveling itself into something as tiny as we are, in comparison to say, our solar system. Whatever, just mad lib your smallest known object, or largest thing you personally know and juxtapose it to the opposite.
And so is our string of knowledge these days. It's not just in relation to the organized structures of sound we know as music, but of visual manifestations, of intellectual thought, of pieces of info we feel and see and have experienced in our new age of information.
Tomorrow, today, yesterday, we are all putting this together to make something of ourselves.
Problem is, that we are...interrupted by a phone call.
Think about it though.
Throughout history we have been told that this one person is/was better than some other, and not to say that wasn't right, but you and I both know there are huge discrepancies with what hype IS and what truths are out there.
And now, right now, like with the introduction of the printing press, we have the opportunity to listen to what was the hype and find truth in that, or compare it with another thing. a shelved item, a shunned idea, an idea waiting to be manifest. How exciting.
And in this discovery, is a monotonous song. Where is all basically sounds the same. Or, all the parts sound basically the same.
The funny thing is. Well, when you actually compare the things that sound the same, if say you are looking at a DNA strand, one thing makes a millipede and another makes a man.
Mothertongue - Rhapsody Link
AT ALL.
For years I have been searching for something to call today's Classical Music.
It's odd, but I'm not sure I can self describe, self-prescribe a nominative for a culture that prides itself on the heavy weight of History.
I don' e'n know if I can comment on it anymore. Eevn commenting on it, I think seems to diminish the actual presence that we need to have in classical music.
Classical music, is alive and well. It is not dead, nor will it ever be dead.
Either that, or I may be looking well, let me strike that last comment.
classical music is dead...As we have known it to be.
The forms still exist and the black noted on white pages still exist and the sounds still exist, but when you look at it as a commentary on today, classical music as a panacea, I think it may not have the quality it once had.
The quality of
I'm better than you.
With all of the music out there all jumbled into trillions of gigs of information, I think we miss the point of where we are. Today.
Today, sounds co-mingle like DNA understood to be vast and diverse yet only understood as parts, Parts that have specific meaning and yet have everything and nothing to do with any of the other parts. Some sections are telling atoms or moleculkes, or whatever to make SKIN, other parts of the code mean that cells combine. Simply combine. It's part of SKIN, but it's also part of HEART.
Sure it all means something. But it's part of the collection, myriads of commands, shoveling itself into something as tiny as we are, in comparison to say, our solar system. Whatever, just mad lib your smallest known object, or largest thing you personally know and juxtapose it to the opposite.
And so is our string of knowledge these days. It's not just in relation to the organized structures of sound we know as music, but of visual manifestations, of intellectual thought, of pieces of info we feel and see and have experienced in our new age of information.
Tomorrow, today, yesterday, we are all putting this together to make something of ourselves.
Problem is, that we are...interrupted by a phone call.
Think about it though.
Throughout history we have been told that this one person is/was better than some other, and not to say that wasn't right, but you and I both know there are huge discrepancies with what hype IS and what truths are out there.
And now, right now, like with the introduction of the printing press, we have the opportunity to listen to what was the hype and find truth in that, or compare it with another thing. a shelved item, a shunned idea, an idea waiting to be manifest. How exciting.
And in this discovery, is a monotonous song. Where is all basically sounds the same. Or, all the parts sound basically the same.
The funny thing is. Well, when you actually compare the things that sound the same, if say you are looking at a DNA strand, one thing makes a millipede and another makes a man.
Mothertongue - Rhapsody Link
5.8.08
Rhapsody player and link to Paul Weller
Paul Weller's new album is worth about seven listens. Great for working on budgets!
It's at parts trippy and other parts singer/songwriter. Sketches and world music instruments soar along with personal lyrics of self delusion and fantasy and spirit. Even if you don't get it...which I don't fully yet, it sounds so good, by the time I move on to the next best thing, I just may get it.
It's on Rhapsody and if you don't have the service, I'd suggest you get with the program. If you have an mp3 player, other than an ipod, you get as many songs you want for 15 bucks a month. Otherwise for about 10 bucks a month you can listen to any song they have in their library (of six million) any time you want.
It's such a better deal than the old Columbia recording house program. It's legal and can listen to the songs we fancy and share them with our friends.
Back to budgets!!! Love ya.
29.7.08
These things I do became a dream, ages ago.
And that I am living, these tendrils of hopes breathe till tomorrow
when I will pass into seeming nothingness.
Having whispered my desire to whom,
at this time, seems my confidant, patient listener and willing ally,
my dear lover, Life,
I can see, this amicable, congenial partner will soon enough turn her ear.
She has done this to our vacuous speciae, and brainless intelligent bacteria, and will complete this cycle infinitely.
All I can do is enter these dreams, as sound, thought, light, dark, whatever it may take...
To last one more day...
In any conceivable way.
27.7.08
Fucking Psychedelic Rock from the 60's
Fuck this music.
I cannot tell you how much it pisses me off. I mean there's Syd Barrett and One has to listen to his stuff...ala Piper at the end of the Gates, or whatever something like six times in order to get it.
Hey!
I'm not averse to working it out. And you know, I really get something out of it. But Screw your fricking wannabee psych bands. If you want to be Syd Barrett, remember, the dude is dead.
I'm not saying this is how any one of these folks will end up, I'm just saying that the music comes from a different place than your normal garage, hey, let's do this this way.
Look up the Bonzo Dog Band in rhapsody, if you can find it...for something NOT TO LISTEN TO.
I'd rather Cold Play than them. !@#$ Oh and the Singer of Wooden Shjips can suck my ass.
BkTW (back to Work)
I cannot tell you how much it pisses me off. I mean there's Syd Barrett and One has to listen to his stuff...ala Piper at the end of the Gates, or whatever something like six times in order to get it.
Hey!
I'm not averse to working it out. And you know, I really get something out of it. But Screw your fricking wannabee psych bands. If you want to be Syd Barrett, remember, the dude is dead.
I'm not saying this is how any one of these folks will end up, I'm just saying that the music comes from a different place than your normal garage, hey, let's do this this way.
Look up the Bonzo Dog Band in rhapsody, if you can find it...for something NOT TO LISTEN TO.
I'd rather Cold Play than them. !@#$ Oh and the Singer of Wooden Shjips can suck my ass.
BkTW (back to Work)
Killer Months.
As if it hasn't been hectic enough as it is.
This next month is going to be balls out.
But this is the life. This is pavement and road and grass and streams of ropy whiz. This is a fractal cloud breaking over the night horizon.
I take heart from the Obama Campaign. He says he's going to take a break in August sometime...so a couple of days off in February, a few days off in June and a week in august, every day hitting the wall. Drawing from the well. No energy left for the tears, just dragging on during the dog days in the heart of the midwest unrelenting oppressive pig infused haze heat and the south's pounding dog breath and the west's searing sole, soul melting glaze...
In for coachings on some new rep in the morning, then power lunch, then more outstanding research and newer research, freshly hatched, then cleaning up and combining years of technical writing and putting it all together in a nice artful, tasty and more importantly, Fucking Readable package.
So would I rather be just a singer? Hah.
My life has brought me here, to this stage through all of the tiny molecular decisions I have made during the past decade.
This next month is going to be balls out.
But this is the life. This is pavement and road and grass and streams of ropy whiz. This is a fractal cloud breaking over the night horizon.
I take heart from the Obama Campaign. He says he's going to take a break in August sometime...so a couple of days off in February, a few days off in June and a week in august, every day hitting the wall. Drawing from the well. No energy left for the tears, just dragging on during the dog days in the heart of the midwest unrelenting oppressive pig infused haze heat and the south's pounding dog breath and the west's searing sole, soul melting glaze...
In for coachings on some new rep in the morning, then power lunch, then more outstanding research and newer research, freshly hatched, then cleaning up and combining years of technical writing and putting it all together in a nice artful, tasty and more importantly, Fucking Readable package.
So would I rather be just a singer? Hah.
My life has brought me here, to this stage through all of the tiny molecular decisions I have made during the past decade.
22.7.08
Where is the magic pen?
I am pouring over the complete idiot's guide to grant writing.
See after three years of runing The Super Group, LLC, with all of its small successes and failures along the way...I guess I lost sight of the fact that I am, no matter what project comes up, creating art.
I am creating art to sell, yes. But I am creating art.
Some people have said I am too smart for my own good. I tend to vehemently disagree. I don't think I'm smart enough.
As a singer, I'm not sure I understand what is meant by being too smart. I know it's an euphemism, but I don't know how to calibrate that thought and turn it into a positive. I think more than anything, I am too lazy for my own good...which is why I completely overcompensate on the opposite end.
I went to a singing event the other night. Sarah Smith gets up and sings, like, you know, how people who like to sing, but don't have the complete connection to the voice that's needed to really convey emotion. Then I get up and just rock the house. It's embarrassing, really, because I know many of them have thought at some point, what are you doing here?
Aren't you supposed to be singing opera at the Met?
It's like being a seven foot tall Andre the Giant, you know? I mean... i'm a regular joe until I open my big palooka mouth and start to sing. THEN people are like, OMFG! Who are U?!
That's more an aside than anything, but maybe it's informative in some way.
The point is, The things I do, may be for popular consumption, or create, but they come about in a different manner than just here it is.
The process doesn't work normally. My process anyway. I am like Billy, the kid in Family Circus.
Wending his way from here to there just to go five feet. Billy and I basically try everything and get allowably distracted by things that may seem comepletely disparate, but in the end...and nobody ever acknowledges this, Billy and I have a lot more perspective on all the stuff between here and the spot toward which we were headed.
It's a great book...and I will finish it soon.
Rock
N
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