Post by Gene on Nov 1, 2012 10:03:31 GMT -5
Well, we’re into November now, and I haven’t made a blog in a while. It’s probably because not really enough is going on. But, I do have SOME stuff:
SAT, NOV 3: The Islander, Hessel, 8pm-11
SAT, NOV 10: Ramada Inn, Marquette, 9pm-12
SAT DEC 8: Ramada Inn, Marquette, 9pm-12
The Islander is always enjoyable, but it could be bad attendance, since it’s the weekend after Halloween, but what it does have going for it is that it’s time change day, so maybe folks will want to go out and party with that extra hour. I’m pretty well liked at the Ramada Inn in Marquette, and I get to see family when I’m there, so the fun of it makes up for the high cost overhead.
What’s huge news is playing at Noggin Room again! Well, it’s not on my immediate schedule above, since my December 7 date recently got bumped, but I have some gigs for January and beyond. I played there a couple times last summer, and I even played there one other time between blogs that I didn’t mention before (October 20). As I often say, getting a chance at a prestigious venue is good, but could be chalked up as luck; The REAL trick is getting asked BACK. They want entertainers year-round, so it’s a very good thing to be favored there in this area. What is really great about it is that I pretty much did what I do best and “was myself”, rather than being what I thought they were looking for. I reasoned that they probably wouldn’t have considered me in the first place if they were completely happy with the kind of performers they have there now, so I took the strategy of being different rather than the same. This approach has the added benefit of being a more honest one, so I don’t get a feeling of posing some lie or “selling out” or anything like that. To my relief, this looks to have been the best thing to do, and seems everybody’s happy. I won’t go as far as to say I’m one of the darlings there yet, but I’m definitely a “freshman” toward that. Things look good for me to play there a few more times in the future.
I wish I could say that for few more places, though. I still haven’t heard anything from the ski lodges I usually do, and my town of St. Ignace seems more enamored with a couple newer local acts, so I’m definitely not as busy as I’d like to be, even by winter standards. I’ve blocked out a big chunk of time for the holidays, since I’m going to go to Florida for a couple weeks, so that probably has a lot to do with not getting considered as much as before for the ski lodges. It’s all fine, since I don’t do this for food on the table or anything, and it gives me some “sharpen the saw” time to make my act even better for the coming busy season.
Past gigs were few, but good. I was done with my regular weekly gigs at The Dixie by mid September, and I played at Noggin Room once, as I said. That gig went very well, obviously. One thing of note, perhaps, is that the Michigan novelty entertainer Heywood Banks TRIED to meet me. I set my gear up early at the Noggin and took a short walk prior to the gig start time, and when I got back, his CD was on my music stand, but he had left before the show started. Heywood Banks has been featured on the nationally syndicated novelty/comedy music show Doctor Demento, and gets a lot of airplay by a few morning comedy radio shows in the area. I would have gladly given my CD to him for an even trade and would have loved to chat with him, but I guess I did get a CD out of it, minimally. I haven’t played it yet, but will soon. It occurred to me later that he may have had the intention of “casing” the place, or even ME, to play there sometime. He’s based out of Ann Arbor, I know, and if it’s true that he’s considering playing at the Noggin, it sure does tell a tale about how hard times are with this kind of entertainment and how far even very successful guys are willing to stretch to get gigs in these times. It makes me feel very lucky to have ANY gigs at ALL in the off-season around here, for sure!
I usually do the big Christmas Musicale in town, but I suspect that it will be on the same weekend that I’m going to Marquette, so I probably won’t want to do it this year, even if it’s on the Sunday. I’m sort of at the point where I don’t need the “exposure” anymore, and I’ve done it the past 8 years or so anyway. I suppose coming to the realization that doing free gigs is not practical anymore is a good sign, but also, maybe it’s time to step aside for others that could use the exposure more.
On playing for free, I did get a chance to visit a couple Open Mics offered down at the Marina Pub in town. The second one was the final day of the season for the venue, and it had good attendance and quite a few other acts, which were all very good. Dave Jasmund had been running them, and he’s quite a wiz on keyboards and a pretty good guitar player. Curt Briggs showed up, who was an old open mic veteran back when I hosted many in town years ago, and he’s still got some impressive chops. A native American woodpipe player even got into the act, and swooned the crowd especially when he teamed up with Dave to do an impromptu performance of R.E.M.’s “The One I Love”.
I wish I could say I saw some other local acts, but I just saw Cedar Straits again at Timmy Lee’s, which is nothing new. It’s sparse around here for live music, and sometimes the town has nothing at all for any weekend days anywhere. Well, there’s the casino, which have a band most times. I’ve caught some short samples, but folks I’m with never want to hang out to listen very long, and I often don’t even know who the acts are since they don’t list their name anywhere on the stage (which I think is a bad idea).
When I was up in Marquette the last couple times, I got to see the locally famous Jim & Ray, both as just a duo and as a full band. They are a “lounge” genre act that have been playing in the Marquette area since the early 80's when I was going to college there, and are STILL doing it. They play at just about every place you can name around there, and are the only act playing every weekend at Marquette Mountain for ski season. Both are great players and pretty good singers, and they also teach guitar. You can hardly question their ability and record of success with this resume, but when I saw their acts personally, well, I was pretty disappointed. They were playing all the exact same songs they were playing 25 years ago with nothing fresh in the mix at all. You can tell when performers are bored, and they definitely were, and this effect has a way of being contagious to the audience, I think. During their duo act, they played SEVEN Jimmy Buffet songs in a row, no lie. As a newer style unplugged performer myself, this kind of act is the antitheses of the modern state of the art, and what I’m always trying to disprove to people about this kind of entertainment every time I play. Lounge acts are more about soothing than they are about surprising, I get that, but I still have the opinion that if you are boring your audience, then you aren’t entertaining them. This may be fine for some folks or if you’re in the venue already and catch them by accident, but if you’re looking for interesting entertainment that you specially go through the trouble to drive to and catch, this certainly AIN’T it...
I’ve mentioned before about my “solo gig rig” that I’ve invented and I’m seeking a patent on. The patent office wants a drawing, and I’ve been trying to find a buddy that knows CAD so I can get an illustration made. I’ve tried this with four friends now, and they either aren’t taking me seriously or they are too busy themselves to dedicate time to it. So I went to a local architect to discuss the project, and they gave me an estimate of $2200 to get my device drawn. This was about twice the cost I expected, so it was disappointing. I asked the friend of mine that seemed most qualified to do the project, again, this time saying I would pay $1000 for the service, and whaddaya know, this seems to have given my project a new urgency with him. Money talks, I guess! I’m hopeful that it will work out, and I’ll let you know how it goes.
Keep a good 2012!
–Gene.
SAT, NOV 3: The Islander, Hessel, 8pm-11
SAT, NOV 10: Ramada Inn, Marquette, 9pm-12
SAT DEC 8: Ramada Inn, Marquette, 9pm-12
The Islander is always enjoyable, but it could be bad attendance, since it’s the weekend after Halloween, but what it does have going for it is that it’s time change day, so maybe folks will want to go out and party with that extra hour. I’m pretty well liked at the Ramada Inn in Marquette, and I get to see family when I’m there, so the fun of it makes up for the high cost overhead.
What’s huge news is playing at Noggin Room again! Well, it’s not on my immediate schedule above, since my December 7 date recently got bumped, but I have some gigs for January and beyond. I played there a couple times last summer, and I even played there one other time between blogs that I didn’t mention before (October 20). As I often say, getting a chance at a prestigious venue is good, but could be chalked up as luck; The REAL trick is getting asked BACK. They want entertainers year-round, so it’s a very good thing to be favored there in this area. What is really great about it is that I pretty much did what I do best and “was myself”, rather than being what I thought they were looking for. I reasoned that they probably wouldn’t have considered me in the first place if they were completely happy with the kind of performers they have there now, so I took the strategy of being different rather than the same. This approach has the added benefit of being a more honest one, so I don’t get a feeling of posing some lie or “selling out” or anything like that. To my relief, this looks to have been the best thing to do, and seems everybody’s happy. I won’t go as far as to say I’m one of the darlings there yet, but I’m definitely a “freshman” toward that. Things look good for me to play there a few more times in the future.
I wish I could say that for few more places, though. I still haven’t heard anything from the ski lodges I usually do, and my town of St. Ignace seems more enamored with a couple newer local acts, so I’m definitely not as busy as I’d like to be, even by winter standards. I’ve blocked out a big chunk of time for the holidays, since I’m going to go to Florida for a couple weeks, so that probably has a lot to do with not getting considered as much as before for the ski lodges. It’s all fine, since I don’t do this for food on the table or anything, and it gives me some “sharpen the saw” time to make my act even better for the coming busy season.
Past gigs were few, but good. I was done with my regular weekly gigs at The Dixie by mid September, and I played at Noggin Room once, as I said. That gig went very well, obviously. One thing of note, perhaps, is that the Michigan novelty entertainer Heywood Banks TRIED to meet me. I set my gear up early at the Noggin and took a short walk prior to the gig start time, and when I got back, his CD was on my music stand, but he had left before the show started. Heywood Banks has been featured on the nationally syndicated novelty/comedy music show Doctor Demento, and gets a lot of airplay by a few morning comedy radio shows in the area. I would have gladly given my CD to him for an even trade and would have loved to chat with him, but I guess I did get a CD out of it, minimally. I haven’t played it yet, but will soon. It occurred to me later that he may have had the intention of “casing” the place, or even ME, to play there sometime. He’s based out of Ann Arbor, I know, and if it’s true that he’s considering playing at the Noggin, it sure does tell a tale about how hard times are with this kind of entertainment and how far even very successful guys are willing to stretch to get gigs in these times. It makes me feel very lucky to have ANY gigs at ALL in the off-season around here, for sure!
I usually do the big Christmas Musicale in town, but I suspect that it will be on the same weekend that I’m going to Marquette, so I probably won’t want to do it this year, even if it’s on the Sunday. I’m sort of at the point where I don’t need the “exposure” anymore, and I’ve done it the past 8 years or so anyway. I suppose coming to the realization that doing free gigs is not practical anymore is a good sign, but also, maybe it’s time to step aside for others that could use the exposure more.
On playing for free, I did get a chance to visit a couple Open Mics offered down at the Marina Pub in town. The second one was the final day of the season for the venue, and it had good attendance and quite a few other acts, which were all very good. Dave Jasmund had been running them, and he’s quite a wiz on keyboards and a pretty good guitar player. Curt Briggs showed up, who was an old open mic veteran back when I hosted many in town years ago, and he’s still got some impressive chops. A native American woodpipe player even got into the act, and swooned the crowd especially when he teamed up with Dave to do an impromptu performance of R.E.M.’s “The One I Love”.
I wish I could say I saw some other local acts, but I just saw Cedar Straits again at Timmy Lee’s, which is nothing new. It’s sparse around here for live music, and sometimes the town has nothing at all for any weekend days anywhere. Well, there’s the casino, which have a band most times. I’ve caught some short samples, but folks I’m with never want to hang out to listen very long, and I often don’t even know who the acts are since they don’t list their name anywhere on the stage (which I think is a bad idea).
When I was up in Marquette the last couple times, I got to see the locally famous Jim & Ray, both as just a duo and as a full band. They are a “lounge” genre act that have been playing in the Marquette area since the early 80's when I was going to college there, and are STILL doing it. They play at just about every place you can name around there, and are the only act playing every weekend at Marquette Mountain for ski season. Both are great players and pretty good singers, and they also teach guitar. You can hardly question their ability and record of success with this resume, but when I saw their acts personally, well, I was pretty disappointed. They were playing all the exact same songs they were playing 25 years ago with nothing fresh in the mix at all. You can tell when performers are bored, and they definitely were, and this effect has a way of being contagious to the audience, I think. During their duo act, they played SEVEN Jimmy Buffet songs in a row, no lie. As a newer style unplugged performer myself, this kind of act is the antitheses of the modern state of the art, and what I’m always trying to disprove to people about this kind of entertainment every time I play. Lounge acts are more about soothing than they are about surprising, I get that, but I still have the opinion that if you are boring your audience, then you aren’t entertaining them. This may be fine for some folks or if you’re in the venue already and catch them by accident, but if you’re looking for interesting entertainment that you specially go through the trouble to drive to and catch, this certainly AIN’T it...
I’ve mentioned before about my “solo gig rig” that I’ve invented and I’m seeking a patent on. The patent office wants a drawing, and I’ve been trying to find a buddy that knows CAD so I can get an illustration made. I’ve tried this with four friends now, and they either aren’t taking me seriously or they are too busy themselves to dedicate time to it. So I went to a local architect to discuss the project, and they gave me an estimate of $2200 to get my device drawn. This was about twice the cost I expected, so it was disappointing. I asked the friend of mine that seemed most qualified to do the project, again, this time saying I would pay $1000 for the service, and whaddaya know, this seems to have given my project a new urgency with him. Money talks, I guess! I’m hopeful that it will work out, and I’ll let you know how it goes.
Keep a good 2012!
–Gene.