NEW YEAR'S--AND PUBLICITY...

2008 GOALS (New Year’s Resolutions): I suppose I should add one more. A veejay in Canada asked if I could turn “Born Again Barbie” into a music video. I should. I had it scripted out at one time (before I upgraded “Alice” the ‘puter and lost a lot of files), but didn’t have the technology to pull it off. (My daughter has crates of naked Barbies in the garage, though. I think I have a cast.)

I gave away the $12 Webcam, too—never did use it—but acquired a real-live video camera. Trick is to make it interface with the computer; there’s no owner’s manual, and no computer-interface cables. (There are reasons why things are cheap.)

SONGSTUFF: Hooked up with SongStuff again (www.songstuff.com); they, too, have blogs, so I posted mine there. 17 readings in two days. I guess that’s good. Thank you, whoever you are (or were). SongStuff is where I’d started my stream-of-consciousness post about starting my own publishing company, back last year, and starting my own publishing company is something else I need to get busy and do. Publishing companies are not exactly lining up and banging on the door. The alternative—the ONLY alternative, near as I can see—is to build my own door and bang on it myself. (On the one hand, I will know who’s banging on the door—but on the other hand, I know the door is going to get answered.)

Other casualties of the computer upgrade: The “Joe is Great!” brochure is gone; I’ll have to re-create it. (However, I have better photos now.) The promotional photo my daughter designed, with the “Wanted in 6 States for Playing Bad Country Music” tag, is also disappeared—but there may be a decent copy floating around somewhere on the Web (I circulated it a lot). It was on my music-business stationery (gone), my business cards (gone), and the “Yes!” signup sheets for people wanting to be notified of the next CD (also gone). I have a lot of re-creating to do.

(Those, by the way, are all important items in the independent musician’s toolbox, as far as I’m concerned. Like the stack of CDs for sale, you don’t want to leave home without them.)

What goes on the “Joe is Great!” brochure, anyway? According to Getting Heard, a 1970s bible on self-promotion for working bands, it should include a brief (and not too gushing) description of what the music is like, some of the venues I’ve performed at, good photos of me playing for audiences large and small, and the all-important contact information—mail, phone, cell phone, e-mail, and Websites. Some juicy extracts from press clippings (I do have a few) and from people who sound like press clippings (I have some of those, too) on the back.

And that promotional photo goes on EVERYTHING. It serves as my logo; it’s what (intentionally) people will remember, because it’s eye-catching, and it IS on everything. (I even made a T-shirt with it.) A band (Getting Heard, again) needs a good logo for marketing purposes; it’s the “cultural shorthand” people will remember you by. (Hey, it works for cars. And the only difference between me and a car is the number of cylinders. And the speed.)

UPDATES: Screamin’ Gulch practices again Wed. (1/2), first time in 2 weeks; we’ll get to hear how Wayne’s recording of the last practice came out. Heard about a new jam session, at the Eagles Lodge on Sunday afternoons; country music, too. (Would be fun to wear a Southern Oregon Songwriters T-shirt to one of those, and get a little cross-pollination going. This area needs more country music. Or the country music needs to be more visible.)

Joe