Post by Gene on Apr 28, 2011 12:37:50 GMT -5
Remember me? It’s been a good while since I’ve updated this e-newsletter, since there really wasn’t a lot to tell. Gigs slow down a lot in the winter, but I managed to get about three a month, except for the worst month of April, when I only had one. The gigs I was getting were mostly in St. Ignace itself, which typically books on such short notice that it’s difficult to include in monthly news.
But things sure are picking up NOW. May has me playing in a few places:
FRI, MAY 6: Hoppie's, Pellston, 8:30pm-11:30
SAT, MAY 7: Cava, Bay Harbor, 8pm-11
SAT, MAY 14: Cava, Bay Harbor, 8pm-11
SAT, JUN 4: Islander Bar, 9pm-1
Both Hoppie’s and Cava are debuts. Hoppie’s is a hard-to-find place on the north shore of Burt Lake, best approached going south from that road connecting Pellston and I-75. It has a rustic loggy lodge look, and I’m looking forward to playing there.
Cava is a pretty classy joint by the marina, and me being a more “party” kind of performer, I’m actually not sure if this is a good fit for me. They book early, though, and I had nothing else going in May, so I was game for giving it a go. I’ll let you know how it all went next time!
As far as other gigs prior, what few there were, I had a lot of fun and attendance was great. I’m getting a lot of local St. Ignace favor lately, so I did Timmy Lee’s and Driftwood a few times this winter. Driftwood seems to be catering more to out-of-towners and Timmy’s to locals, generally. I enjoy them both, but Timmy’s seems to be a lot more loose and I can be “weirder” there, which I like. I’ll certainly do a few at these places this coming summer.
I finally got my first gig at Satisfied Frog in the Soo. It was a last-minute fill-in situation with short notice, but I jumped at the chance to prove myself there. The place looked pretty darn full to me, but the bartender said things were “slow” being the week before spring break, so standards there are high! I was told it went well, but they book so far in advance, I’m sure I won’t get another chance this off-season (and I don’t need a gig that far away otherwise). I sure hope I’m remembered there for this coming fall, though, since I was a great fit there, and it was a blast!
The Village Inn decided to try dedicated acts rather than Open Mics for a few weeks, and I gratefully got my turn amongst other local acts. It really is a comfortable venue, and I easily talked a few friends into coming, so it worked out well. I’m not sure what they’re going to do for summer, and I’m sure it has a lot to do with what Mackinac Grille across the street will do with live music, so I don’t know what to report about that yet. Village Inn had Open Mics sometimes, but not consistently, this winter, so I played at those twice, I think. I often use these for “trial runs” of new material, and it looks like what songs I’ve learned this winter are going to be “keepers”.
I’ve decided to get into investing in the gear to provide recorded music on my short gig breaks. A couple venues mentioned that I should do this, and I was getting tired of having the venue turn on and off their own gig-break music themselves, where I often don’t have timely control of this. I picked up a little netbook and learned how to record streaming music off of YouTube for free, and arranged these songs categorically in short playlists of 12 minutes or so. It’s more gear to haul and set up, but I think it will pay for itself by providing more of a low-maintenance service for the venues I play. Selecting the music was fun, but the choresome part of it sure made me appreciate what DJ’s have to go through!
As you know, I like to share news about other local acts, but there was so little local live music this winter, and what little there was were from acts that are pretty established that I have reported on before. (This was another reason I dropped off on these letters for a few months.) One exception is that I got to check out Holly Keller’s new duo project with Brad Winkler at The Noggin Room in Petoskey (on a Monday night, which was peculiar). Both are “break-offs” of Petoskey’s Vermeers band (kind of a local folk music “club” of sorts), Holly being half of the once-hot Pinky Lee duo and Brad being a competent acoustic guitar and banjo player. They had a laid-back folk sound that was a good fit for what Noggin is becoming lately, and I’m sure you’ll be hearing more of them. I don’t believe they’ve named their project other than their own names and-ed together, as of now, though. I got to hear Wolf Chili at Village Inn, too. I was somewhat disappointed with them, since I know the musicians are good, but this project just sounded like it didn’t put in the required rehearsal time. It really was more of an informal jam among friends, and not a “serious” band, per se, so I think my expectations as to what this exactly was might not have been correct.
The local scenes have been taking some noticeable shifts, in my opinion. The majority of Petoskey’s, Boyne’s and Charlevoix’s venues are really starting to go a more “classy” route, and are looking for more background dinner-ambiance kind of acts, toward jazz, blues, folk and even classical players. The Noggin has gotten very conventional like this and the new Cava looks much the same. The big rich resorts always were this way, and Whitecaps and The Bistro are new in offering live music, but it’s just more acts of this very same ilk. The Knot and La Seniorita are quitting live music for a while, and the last hope, Papa Lou’s, is seeming to go a more radical alternative route of rappers and techno DJ’s. With the lone exception of Northern Lights and maybe Boyne’s Pierson’s, no one seems to be picking up the market niche of ”centerpiece” and upbeat solo and duo acoustic rock performers. I’m certain someone will notice this soon and step up to claim the niche, but presently, these areas don’t seem to be a very good market for what I’m personally best at.
I am noticing the other more rural towns like St. Ignace, Cheboygan and Mac City DO seem to be picking up with what the above described area has discarded, though. One venue owner explains that bands are pretty expensive and often don’t “support their weight”, but a good solo act doesn’t cost as much and can do a decent job of entertaining a small crowd, so that does favor me. It’s personally advantageous, but I still don’t like to see local bands demise for ANY reason. The local casino has had a big influence on the music scene in this area (having unfair competitive advantage of offering gambling and smoking to their clientele), and they have mostly taken over the niche of offering bands on the weekend. I think this is another reason more scaled-down acts are being offered at other nearby establishments on these same weekends, since these other venues probably know that competing with this casino by ALSO offering full bands is probably not a wise business move.
Mackinac Island is taking a route of less musicians playing more often, as opposed to the other way around. While this manages easier by the venues, this trend favors career musicians or Island residents that can dedicate big chunks of their lives to playing there, which is something I can’t personally accommodate very well. I also think that music is a novelty business, where lots of variety is how it is best served, but having the same few people repeatedly perform a lot very much goes against that.
I think I’ve gone on and on enough for now. Here’s to a great summer!
–Gene.
But things sure are picking up NOW. May has me playing in a few places:
FRI, MAY 6: Hoppie's, Pellston, 8:30pm-11:30
SAT, MAY 7: Cava, Bay Harbor, 8pm-11
SAT, MAY 14: Cava, Bay Harbor, 8pm-11
SAT, JUN 4: Islander Bar, 9pm-1
Both Hoppie’s and Cava are debuts. Hoppie’s is a hard-to-find place on the north shore of Burt Lake, best approached going south from that road connecting Pellston and I-75. It has a rustic loggy lodge look, and I’m looking forward to playing there.
Cava is a pretty classy joint by the marina, and me being a more “party” kind of performer, I’m actually not sure if this is a good fit for me. They book early, though, and I had nothing else going in May, so I was game for giving it a go. I’ll let you know how it all went next time!
As far as other gigs prior, what few there were, I had a lot of fun and attendance was great. I’m getting a lot of local St. Ignace favor lately, so I did Timmy Lee’s and Driftwood a few times this winter. Driftwood seems to be catering more to out-of-towners and Timmy’s to locals, generally. I enjoy them both, but Timmy’s seems to be a lot more loose and I can be “weirder” there, which I like. I’ll certainly do a few at these places this coming summer.
I finally got my first gig at Satisfied Frog in the Soo. It was a last-minute fill-in situation with short notice, but I jumped at the chance to prove myself there. The place looked pretty darn full to me, but the bartender said things were “slow” being the week before spring break, so standards there are high! I was told it went well, but they book so far in advance, I’m sure I won’t get another chance this off-season (and I don’t need a gig that far away otherwise). I sure hope I’m remembered there for this coming fall, though, since I was a great fit there, and it was a blast!
The Village Inn decided to try dedicated acts rather than Open Mics for a few weeks, and I gratefully got my turn amongst other local acts. It really is a comfortable venue, and I easily talked a few friends into coming, so it worked out well. I’m not sure what they’re going to do for summer, and I’m sure it has a lot to do with what Mackinac Grille across the street will do with live music, so I don’t know what to report about that yet. Village Inn had Open Mics sometimes, but not consistently, this winter, so I played at those twice, I think. I often use these for “trial runs” of new material, and it looks like what songs I’ve learned this winter are going to be “keepers”.
I’ve decided to get into investing in the gear to provide recorded music on my short gig breaks. A couple venues mentioned that I should do this, and I was getting tired of having the venue turn on and off their own gig-break music themselves, where I often don’t have timely control of this. I picked up a little netbook and learned how to record streaming music off of YouTube for free, and arranged these songs categorically in short playlists of 12 minutes or so. It’s more gear to haul and set up, but I think it will pay for itself by providing more of a low-maintenance service for the venues I play. Selecting the music was fun, but the choresome part of it sure made me appreciate what DJ’s have to go through!
As you know, I like to share news about other local acts, but there was so little local live music this winter, and what little there was were from acts that are pretty established that I have reported on before. (This was another reason I dropped off on these letters for a few months.) One exception is that I got to check out Holly Keller’s new duo project with Brad Winkler at The Noggin Room in Petoskey (on a Monday night, which was peculiar). Both are “break-offs” of Petoskey’s Vermeers band (kind of a local folk music “club” of sorts), Holly being half of the once-hot Pinky Lee duo and Brad being a competent acoustic guitar and banjo player. They had a laid-back folk sound that was a good fit for what Noggin is becoming lately, and I’m sure you’ll be hearing more of them. I don’t believe they’ve named their project other than their own names and-ed together, as of now, though. I got to hear Wolf Chili at Village Inn, too. I was somewhat disappointed with them, since I know the musicians are good, but this project just sounded like it didn’t put in the required rehearsal time. It really was more of an informal jam among friends, and not a “serious” band, per se, so I think my expectations as to what this exactly was might not have been correct.
The local scenes have been taking some noticeable shifts, in my opinion. The majority of Petoskey’s, Boyne’s and Charlevoix’s venues are really starting to go a more “classy” route, and are looking for more background dinner-ambiance kind of acts, toward jazz, blues, folk and even classical players. The Noggin has gotten very conventional like this and the new Cava looks much the same. The big rich resorts always were this way, and Whitecaps and The Bistro are new in offering live music, but it’s just more acts of this very same ilk. The Knot and La Seniorita are quitting live music for a while, and the last hope, Papa Lou’s, is seeming to go a more radical alternative route of rappers and techno DJ’s. With the lone exception of Northern Lights and maybe Boyne’s Pierson’s, no one seems to be picking up the market niche of ”centerpiece” and upbeat solo and duo acoustic rock performers. I’m certain someone will notice this soon and step up to claim the niche, but presently, these areas don’t seem to be a very good market for what I’m personally best at.
I am noticing the other more rural towns like St. Ignace, Cheboygan and Mac City DO seem to be picking up with what the above described area has discarded, though. One venue owner explains that bands are pretty expensive and often don’t “support their weight”, but a good solo act doesn’t cost as much and can do a decent job of entertaining a small crowd, so that does favor me. It’s personally advantageous, but I still don’t like to see local bands demise for ANY reason. The local casino has had a big influence on the music scene in this area (having unfair competitive advantage of offering gambling and smoking to their clientele), and they have mostly taken over the niche of offering bands on the weekend. I think this is another reason more scaled-down acts are being offered at other nearby establishments on these same weekends, since these other venues probably know that competing with this casino by ALSO offering full bands is probably not a wise business move.
Mackinac Island is taking a route of less musicians playing more often, as opposed to the other way around. While this manages easier by the venues, this trend favors career musicians or Island residents that can dedicate big chunks of their lives to playing there, which is something I can’t personally accommodate very well. I also think that music is a novelty business, where lots of variety is how it is best served, but having the same few people repeatedly perform a lot very much goes against that.
I think I’ve gone on and on enough for now. Here’s to a great summer!
–Gene.
