THIS WEEK...

THIS WEEK’S SERMON is taken from The Ramones–Joey, I think (he seemed to be the one that did most of the talking): "If we’d waited till we were good, we never would’ve gotten started." For those with a less punk bent, James Michener said much the same thing in The Drifters: "Southern Florida is full of people 65 years old who wanted to do something important with their lives but wanted to wait until it was safe. Now it’s safe–and they’re 65 years old." (Michener used more words because he wasn’t under pressure to produce an under-three-minute product.)
There’s a local heavy-metal band that’s getting ready to Go Somewhere–they’ve been practicing for a while, have some original material, and are about ready to go into a studio and on the road to gigs. (They found, as I did, that there are no commercial recording studios in this forgotten corner of Oregon.) They are planning on going the same route I am–playing live to bigger and bigger houses, and selling their CDs at the gigs. A record deal with a major label is probably no more in the cards for them than it is for me. I did encourage ‘em to play local before they go on the road; it’s easier to produce a sellout crowd in your own home town, and it looks good to the out-of-towners that might hire you. Heck, I’d go see these guys, even though I generally abhor heavy-metal music, because I know two of them personally. A lot of people do–and would go.
It’s good to be able to talk to these kids (these "kids," by the way, are pushing 30 years old, have Real Jobs, and two of them have families–age is a relative concept) because we can trade notes–about what works, and what doesn’t, and ways to get things done (we’re still working on the problem of the recording studio)–basically as equals. We are after the same thing, in different genres, but a lot of the tools, tactics, and approaches are the same.

UPDATES: The Garage Studio is getting a workout–three recordings out of there in the last week. "Twenty-Four Seven," recorded for the Country Rose Show on Soundclick, is getting a better buzz this time around than it did two years ago. The re-recording of "Armadillo on the Interstate" went to our square dance caller (who is from Texas, and may appreciate a love song about local wildlife). And I sent a re-make of "Distraction" to its author, Diane Ewing; if she likes it, I’ll post it in time for Valentine’s Day. I have photos of the Garage Studio but don’t know if I can post them.